Production of Pd-103 radionuclide at the cyclotron

In the recent years prostate cancer, even when cured was accompanied by very high incontinence side effects as the surgery or external radiation treatment often caused significant damage to the surrounding organs. Brachytherapy is a procedure by which the radioactive source, as small sized 'seeds' or thin wires, is implanted within a cancerous tumor and the radiation treats the tumor from the inside, and it is rapidly developing over the few years. This type of treatment has reduced side effects, requiring only mild intervention. One the key radioisotopes used by brachytherapy is Palladium-103 with a half-life equal to 17 days. In this paper results are presented on the technique of Pd-103 production by irradiation with protons at the cyclotron of Rh-103 foil with following thermodiffusion of radioactive impurity atoms to the metal surface and their extraction by dissolution of the irradiated foil in a mineral acid