Relating β+ radionuclides' properties by order theory

Abstract

We studied 27 β+ radionuclides taking into account some of their variants encoding information of their production, such as integral yield, threshold energy and energy of projectiles used to generate them; these radionuclides are of current use in clinical diagnostic imaging by positron emission tomography (PET). The study was conducted based on physical, physico-chemical, nuclear, dosimetric and quantum properties, which characterise the β+ radionuclides selected, with the aim of finding meaningful relationships among them. In order to accomplish this objective the mathematical methodology known as formal concept analysis was employed. We obtained a set of logical assertions (rules) classified as implications and associations, for the set of β+ radionuclides considered. Some of them show that low mass defect is related to high and medium values of maximum β+ energy, and with even parity and low mean lives; all these parameters are associated to the dose received by a patient subjected to a PET analysis. © 2013 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary.