Noninvasive measurement of radiopharmaceutical time-activity data using external thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs)

In this study, we present a new method for estimating the time-activity data using serial timely measurements of thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs). The approach is based on the combination of the measurement of surface dose using TLD and Monte Carlo (MC) simulation to estimate the radiopharmaceutical time-activity data. It involves four steps: (1) identify the source organs and outline their contours in computed tomography images; (2) compute the S values on the body surface for each source organ using a MC code; (3) obtain a serial measurement of the dose with numerous TLDs placed on the body surface; (4) solve the dose-activity equation to generate organ cumulative activity for each period of measurement. The activity of each organ at the time of measurement is simply the cumulative activity divided by the timespan between measurements. The usefulness of this method was studied using a MC simulation based on an Oak Ridge National Laboratory mathematical phantom with ¹⁸F-FDG filled in six source organs. Numerous TLDs were placed on different locations of the surface and were repeatedly read and replaced. The time-activity curves (TACs) of all organs were successfully reconstructed. Experiments on a physical phantom were also performed. Preliminary results indicate that it is an effective, robust, and simple method for assessing the TAC. The proposed method holds great potential for a range of applications in areas such as targeted radionuclide therapy, pharmaceutical research, and patient-specific dose estimation.