Medical cyclotron: why, where, how

Cyclotrons for medical purposes are particularly useful for the production of radioactive isotopes of elements normally constituting organic matter (15O, 13N, 11C). The short half-life and positron emission of those elements are of great interest in medical diagnosis. Many others carrier-free radioisotopes can be produced by cyclotrons. Three categories of cyclotrons are mentioned. Desk top cyclotron only adapted to the production of short-lived radioisotopes in a hospital; low energy and average energy cyclotrons which require well-entrained personnel for their operation and are best adapted to the production of radioelements on a regional or even national scale. Examples relative to the interest of short-lived radioisotopes in lung and brain investigations and tumor detection are given