THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUTOMATED SYNTHESIS MODULE (ASM) FOR THE PRODUCTION OF OXYGEN-15 LABELED BUTANOL IS PROPOSED.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUTOMATED SYNTHESIS MODULE (ASM) FOR THE PRODUCTION OF OXYGEN-15 LABELED BUTANOL IS PROPOSED. OXYGEN-15LABELED BUTANOL IS THE ""GOLD STANDARD'' FOR CEREBRAL BLOOD FLOW MEASUREMENT BUT BECAUSE OF THE SHORT HALF-LIFE OF OXYGEN-15 (2 MINUTES) THE SYNTHESIS MUST BE PERFORMED IN A RAPID AUTOMATED MODULE FOR WIDESPREAD UTILIZATION IN THE THE NEW ASM MODULE WILL EFFICIENTLY REMOVE THE OXYGEN ISOTOPE FROM THE TARGET OF THE SMALL MEDICAL CYCLOTRON AND PERFORM THE NECESSARY CHEMISTRY TO PRODUCE THE DESIRED OXYGEN-15LABELED BUTANOL WITHIN A 5-MINUTE THE COMMERCIAL AVAILABILITY OF SUCH AN EFFECTIVE BLOOD FLOW AGENT COMBINED WITH THE MANY OTHER COST INNOVATIONS PRESENTLY OCCURRING IN THE POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY COMMUNITY WILL GREATLY ENHANCE PET AS THE NEXT SIGNIFICANT BREAKTHROUGH IN MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY. COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY AND IMAGING, INC. IS DEVELOPING AND WILL BEGIN SUPPLYING POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY CENTERS DURING 1985 THAT WILL SELL ( $2M) FOR LESS THAN TYPICAL MRI SCANNERS. WE ANTICIPATE SELLING 6 TO 10 OF THESE SYSTEMS IN 1985 WITH THE MARKET EXPANDING TO OVER 100 PER YEAR BY 1989. WE ANTICIPATE THAT THE PROPOSED BLOOD FLOW MODULE WILL BE A NECESSITY FOR THIS COMMERCIALIZATION TO OCCUR.