Radiopharmaceutical

Radiopharmaceuticals, or medicinal radiocompounds, are a group of pharmaceutical drugs containing radioactive isotopes. Radiopharmaceuticals can be used as diagnostic and therapeutic agents. Radiopharmaceuticals emit radiation themselves, which is different from contrast media which absorb or alter external electromagnetism or ultrasound. Radiopharmacology is the branch of pharmacology that specializes in these agents.

The main group of these compounds are the radiotracers used to diagnose dysfunction in body tissues. While not all medical isotopes are radioactive, radiopharmaceuticals are the oldest and remain the most common of such drugs.

As with other pharmaceutical drugs, there is standardization of the drug nomenclature for radiopharmaceuticals, although various standards coexist. The International Nonproprietary Names (INNs), United States Pharmacopeia (USP) names, and IUPAC names for these agents are usually similar other than trivial style differences. The details are explained at Radiopharmacology § Drug nomenclature for radiopharmaceuticals.

A list of nuclear medicine radiopharmaceuticals follows. Some radioisotopes are used in ionic or inert form without attachment to a pharmaceutical; these are also included. There is a section for each radioisotope with a table of radiopharmaceuticals using that radioisotope. The sections are ordered by atomic number of the radioisotope. Sections for the same element are then ordered by atomic mass number.

³H or tritium is a beta emitter.

¹¹C is a positron emitter.

¹⁴C is a beta emitter.

¹³N is a positron emitter.