Radiosynthesis and modified quality control of O-(2-[18F]fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine ([18F]FET) for brain tumor imaging

O-(2-[18F]fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine ([18F]FET) is the most promising radio-labeled amino acid tracer for brain tumor imaging due to the limitation of 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose ([18F]FDG) and L-methyl-[11C]methionine (11C-MET). However, it has some limitations in radiosynthesis and related quality control that make it less frequently used in many PET centers, in this study, we report a new modification of [18F]FET production using a commercially available fully automated GRP SCINTOMICS module overcoming some of the existing limitations along with a suggestion of a simplified quality control procedure with special focus placed on enantiomeric and radiochemical purity. ([18F]FET) was produced in high radiochemical and enantiomeric purity more than 99% and non-decay corrected yield 25±5% in about 55 min.