Fifty Years of radiopharmacy at Rossendorf

The Central Institute of Nuclear Research was founded in Rossendorf near Dresden in 1956 and the production of radioactive materials and radiopharmaceuticals was started in 1958. The basis for the production was the irradiation of targets in the Rossendorf research reactor and, to a lower extent, at the Rossendorf cyclotron U-120.

This paper gives an account of the accomplishments of Rossendorf in the field of radiopharmacy from the early fifties, in the former department of 'Radioactive Isotopes', till to date. The production of radiopharmaceuticals is reviewed in brief. Investigations in technetium chemistry and pharmacology are discussed in more details, and efforts to set up positron emission tomography (PET) in Rossendorf, as the first PET centre in the former Eastern Block, are described. Nowadays, the research in radiopharmacy is carried out within the well-equipped Institute of Radiopharmacy, established in 1992.