Iran-Made Radiopharmaceuticals Detect Cancer Cells
“This product is the active ingredient of the diagnostic radiopharmaceutical Tilmanocept; an effective radiopharmaceutical substance that can image the lymphatic system after being labeled with a radioisotope of technesium,” Seyed Ahmad Shahcheraq, the managing director of the company, told ANA.
Noting that the product has been used in the world since 2013 and was monopolized by a US company that has FDA approval, he said, “Now this product has been indigenized in Iran in cooperation with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and the Development Headquarters of Nanotechnology and Micro Technologies.”
“The particle size of this product is less than ten nanometers and can move in the lymphatic system,” Shahcheraq said.
“This product will first be delivered to the AEOI. Then, in nuclear medicine centers, it is labeled with technetium-99 radioisotope a few minutes before it is injected into the patient's body. After the product is labeled with a radioisotope, it is injected directly (into the tumor) or subcutaneously (in the lymphatic part) to the patient,” he explained.
“Then this effective substance starts to move in the lymph system and in the areas that have cancer cell receptors, they are identified in the scan images. Finally, surgeons can identify the lymph nodes involved in tumors and cancer cells and selectively remove them,” Shahcheraq said.
The most common side effects include pain or irritation at the injection site.
4155/v
It was approved for medical use in the United States in March 2013, and in the European Union in November 2014.
Technetium is a chemical element; it has symbol Tc and atomic number 43. It is the lightest element whose isotopes are all radioactive.
