Establishing a PET research centre in Zagreb, Croatia (status and progress report)

Abstract

The completion and opening of a commercial FDG production
facility at the Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia
ensured a continuous, reliable daily supply of radioactive
compound on site. This has laid the foundations for establishing
a centre for nuclear molecular diagnostics which
initially uses already available FDG, but later we also plan to
synthesise other F18 radiopharmaceuticals. In the long run
it is anticipated that we shall expand our activities to other
positron-emission isotopes like C11. A ClearPet camera has
been purchased, delivered, tested and correlated with PMOD
image analysis software. We report on the present operational
status of the facility, we show the first preliminary results, and
offer our projections for further development in the scientific
and organisational sense. The final aim of this facility is to
grow into a strong research centre with good scientific collaboration
with other R&D organisations in the region.