Passage Nuclear Medicine Uses Radiopharmaceuticals for Disease Treatment and as Tracers

Passage
Nuclear medicine uses radiopharmaceuticals for disease treatment and as tracers in medical imaging studies.  Yttrium-90 (⁹⁰Y) is a radiopharmaceutical agent used to treat overgrown joint lining known as pigmented villonodular synovitis, as well as some forms of liver cancer.  It has a half-life of about 64 hours.Although the relatively short half-life of ⁹⁰Y is optimal for use in medical applications, transportation and storage of the radiopharmaceutical are not feasible.  As a result, strontium-90 (⁹⁰Sr) , with a half-life of 28.8 years, is the most common source of ⁹⁰Y.  ⁹⁰Sr is created by a nuclear fission process that begins with uranium-235 (²³⁵U) in a nuclear reactor as shown in Reaction 1.²³⁵U → ⁹⁰Sr + ZReaction 1Fission of ²³⁵U produces ⁹⁰Sr as well as additional fission products (Z) including, but not limited to, technetium-99 (⁹⁹Tc) , iodine-129 (¹²⁹I) , and zirconium-93 (⁹³Zr) .  Figure 1 shows the distribution of fission products.
Figure 1  Distribution of ²³⁵U fission products by atomic weightTo create the final ⁹⁰Y required for nuclear medicine studies, ⁹⁰Sr decay is carried out in a controlled ⁹⁰Y generator.  ⁹⁰Y is then separated from residual ⁹⁰Sr for use in clinical applications.
Adapted from Wheeler CE. Comments on vaccines, August 1987. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1988;18(1 Pt 2) :232-4.
-Fission of ²³⁵U produces multiple elements.  Based on Figure 1, which of the following is the atomic number of the most common fission product?

A) 38
B) 55
C) 92
D) 133

Correct Answer:

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