Detection of long-lived europium-152 in samarium-153-lexidronam

Samarium-153-lexidronam is a radiopharmaceutical used for pain palliation therapy in patients suffering from multilocular bone metastases. The postinjection residual of four pharmaceutical vials of (153)Sm-lexidronam and one patient were investigated for contamination with other isotopes using high-resolution gamma spectroscopy. In the spectra besides the already known contaminants europium-154, (155)Eu and (156)Eu, europium-152 was discovered in vitro and also in vivo. (152)Eu disintegrates with a half-life of 13.5years emitting a multitude of high energy photons. Due to these properties, it does not only affect radioactive waste management regarding e.g. the disposal of the postinjection residual, but also poses an additional dose burden to the patient and to third persons. In the postinjection residual a mean activity concentration of 10.4±1.1kBq europium-152 per GBq (153)Sm was detected. 62days after isotope application, 15.8±4.0kBq of (152)Eu were found within the patient. The lifetime effective dose to the patient from the europium impurities was determined using a multicompartment model. For (152)Eu the effective dose was 2.1mSv/GBq (153)Sm-lexidronam and the total effective dose from all impurities was 6.1mSv/GBq (153)Sm-lexidronam. The total absorbed dose to third persons caused by the europium impurities was estimated as 0.6mGy/GBq (153)Sm-lexidronam.