Isotope Development Group's
Nuclear Medicine Program
The Tungsten-188 and Rhenium-188 Generator Information
Although ORNL is not licensed to distribute
radioactive agents approved for human use, a variety of new agents
developed in the ORNL Nuclear Medicine
Program are used in clinical trials throughout the world under
physician-sponsored protocols. A key example is the tungsten-188/rhenium-188
generator system, which began
development at ORNL in 1986. This generator provides the carrier-free
rhenium-188 therapeutic radioisotope. Because of the long 69-day
half-life of the tungsten-188 parent,
the generator has a very long useful shelf-life and provides
rhenium-188 at very low costs, which is especailly important
in developing regions. We also developed at ORNL a
variety of agents and approaches for using rhenium-188 for therapeutic
applications, including rhenium-188-HEDP for bone pain palliation
in conjunction with the clinic for Nuclear Medicine in Bonn,
Germany, and rhenium-188 agents for the inhibition of restenosis,
and proposed
and demonstrated
for
the
first time the feasibility of using liquid-filled balloons with
rhenium-188. Other applications which are being
purusued by our collaborators and customers are the use of rhenium-188-labeled
peptides and antibodies for cancer therapy and rhenium-88 particles
for hepatocellular carcinoma
therapy and treatment of arthritis.
The generators are sold from ORNL as radiochemicals, and
over 60 clinical trials are in progress in over 20 countries
including two current multi-center trials initiated by the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for the treatment of
hepatocellular carcinoma and for synovectomy. An earlier IAEA-sponsored
multi-center clinical trial completed in 2004 had evaluated the
use of rhenium-188 for restenosis therapy. The success of the
development, promotion and widespread
use
of
this generator system highlights the important role the Nuclear
Medicine Program continues to have in the development of important
new technology.
Figure 1: Arnold Beets, below left, and Russ Knapp
demonstrate use of the tungsten-188/rhenium-188 generator
system
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Table
1.
Oncology Applications—Examples of Clinical and Research
Protocols Using Rhenium-188 From the Alumina-Based Tungsten-188/Rhenium-188
Generator Available from the Nuclear
Medicine Program, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) (March
2005)
Table
2. Restenosis
Therapy - Examples of Clinical and Research Protocols Using Rhenium-188
From the Alumina-Based Tungsten-188/Rhenium-188 Generator Available
from the Nuclear Medicine
Program, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) (March 2005)
Table
3. Examples of
Rhenium-188-Labeled Therapeutic Agents Under Development using
the Alumina-Based Tungsten-188/Rhenium-188 Generator Available
from the Nuclear Medicine Program, Oak Ridge
National Laboratory (ORNL) (March 2005)
Links
 Rhenium-188 Bibliography
Generator Setup and Use
World Map of Clinical Studies Using
Rhenium-188 Technology for Vascular Radiation Therapy
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