Analysis and interpretation of CLI and DRI images in view of a Ag-111 biodistribution experiment

The ISOLPHARM project is studying the feasibility of a novel technology for production of beta-emitter radionuclides with high-purity mass selection at the SPES facility (LNL), to be used for production of radiopharmaceutical with extremely high specific activity. The first candidate currently under study is Ag-111, a beta/gamma emitter with possible theranostic use. Waiting for SPES to enter in operation, Ag-111 is currently produced with traditional neutron capture reaction on stable Pd-110 at the TRIGA Mark II reactor at the LENA Laboratories in Pavia. After irradiation, Ag has to be chemically separated from Pd in order to get a solution containing Ag-111 to be used for testing the macromolecules under development. The radiochemical separation procedure has been recently achieved and the first "in-vivo" tests of biodistribution of molecules loaded with Ag-111 are foreseen for this year at the CAPiR laboratory in Catania. The path of the molecules under investigation can be followed in-vivo using a series of images taken with a Bruker In-vivo Extreme-II instrument. This device, in addition to standard X-ray images, can take Cherenkov Luminescence Images (CLI) and Direct Radioisotopic Images (DRI). The detailed interpretation of CLI and DRI is not trivial and it is currently supported by a simulation tool, based on Geant4. The present thesis work is dedicated to the development and refinement of such simulation software, to the synthesis of the phantoms for the experiments at CAPiR and to the participation in the experimental campaign itself, where CLI and DRI of phantoms are acquired. As final part of the project, the experimental images are analyzed and interpreted within the developed simulation framework.