Bismuth-213

Bismuth-213 is a radioactive isotope of bismuth. It is an alpha-emitting radionuclide with a half-life of approximately 46 minutes. Bismuth-213 is used in targeted alpha therapy (TAT), a type of radiotherapy that is used to treat certain types of cancer.

Production

Bismuth-213 is produced through the decay of uranium-233. Uranium-233 decays to thorium-229, which then decays to radium-225, actinium-225, and finally to bismuth-213. This decay chain is known as the actinium decay series.

Use in Medicine

In medicine, bismuth-213 is used in targeted alpha therapy (TAT). TAT is a type of radiotherapy that uses alpha-emitting radionuclides to kill cancer cells. The advantage of using alpha-emitting radionuclides like bismuth-213 is that they have a high linear energy transfer (LET), which means they can cause a lot of damage to cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue.

Bismuth-213 is often attached to a molecule that can specifically target cancer cells. This molecule is known as a chelate. The chelate carries the bismuth-213 to the cancer cells, where the alpha particles emitted by the bismuth-213 can kill the cancer cells.

Safety

Like all radioactive substances, bismuth-213 must be handled with care. It emits alpha particles, which can cause damage to living tissue if they are ingested or inhaled. However, because alpha particles have a very short range, they do not pose a risk if they are outside the body.

See Also

• Radiotherapy
• Alpha particle
• Cancer

References

‎

---

Translate: - East Asian 中文, 日本, 한국어, South Asian हिन्दी, தமிழ், తెలుగు, Urdu, ಕನ್ನಡ, Southeast Asian Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai, မြန်မာဘာသာ, বাংলা
European español, Deutsch, français, Greek, português do Brasil, polski, română, русский, Nederlands, norsk, svenska, suomi, Italian
Middle Eastern & African عربى, Turkish, Persian, Hebrew, Afrikaans, isiZulu, Kiswahili,
Other Bulgarian, Hungarian, Czech, Swedish, മലയാളം, मराठी, ਪੰਜਾਬੀ, ગુજરાતી, Portuguese, Ukrainian