Fig. 3
From: Radiopharmaceuticals and their applications in medicine
Summary of approved radiopharmaceuticals. (a) Approval radiopharmaceuticals used in diagnosis and therapy for different diseases. Diagnostic agents are categorized into seven categories on the basis of indications. Several agents are used in multiple-diseases ([18F]FDG, for example), and they are preferentially categorized into their primary indications. All therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals are applied for oncology. (b) Radionuclides used in PET (37.0%) and SPECT (63.0%) scanning. Fluorine-18, gallium-68, carbon-11, nitrogen-13, copper-64, and rubidium-82 labelled agents are approved for PET/CT diagnosis. For SPECT/CT imaging, technetium-99m, iodine-123, indium-111, gallium-67, iodine-125, and thallium-201 are used. (c) Radionuclides used in cancer therapy, including iodine-131, yttrium-90, lutetium-177, phosphorus-32, strontium-89, samarium-153, and radium-223. (d) Numbers of approved diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals used in various diseases catalogued by radionuclides. Technetium-99m is mostly used in clinical imaging for multiple diseases. Fluorine-18 is used mainly in oncology and neurodegenerative disorders. (e) Targeting vectors for diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals. Small molecules are used as the major vectors for radiopharmaceuticals discovery. Peptides play a distinct role both in diagnosis and therapy, particularly after the FDA approval of [68Ga]/[177Lu]Ga-DOTA-TATE for NETs. Antibodies play essential roles in both imaging and therapy because of their strong binding affinity in vivo. Others indicate protein and serum albumin-based radiopharmaceuticals. The number of approved radiopharmaceuticals in each catalogue is presented
