Experimental determination of calibration settings of a commercially available radionuclide calibrator for various clinical measurement geometries and radionuclides

Following the approach of the National Primary Laboratory of the UK (NPL) for the calibration of radionuclide calibrators, but using a commercially available instrument with no data available in the literature, the radionuclide calibrator response was investigated as a function of different measurement geometries at the “Regina Elena” National Cancer Institute (IRE) in Rome. Working with Italian National Metrology Institute for ionising radiation quantities (ENEA-INMRI), specific calibration factors with traceability to national primary standards were determined for different types of glass vials, solid capsules and plastic syringes, investigating three radionuclides with different energy spectra (Tc-99 m, In-111, I-131). For each kind of syringe, calibration correction factors for different filling volumes were calculated. For Tc-99 m and I-131 the difference between measured and true activity was in the range 2–7%, depending on measurement geometry. For In-111 a large percentage deviation from the true activity value was found in each geometry considered, reaching 35%. The magnitude of this difference is particularly dependent on the energies of the emitted photons.