Some Observations on the Decay of Iodine-124 and their Implications in Radioiodine Therapy

Abstract

The decay of Iodine-124 was studied, and the electron capture events were found to be in the ratio of [alpha]:[beta] [gamma] = 1:4.9 [plus or minus] 0.7:5.0 [plus or minus] 1 7. The electron capture/position emission branding ratio was found to be 77/23 or 3.4 [plus or minus] 1.2. The half-life was determined to be 4.24 [plus or minus] 0.05 days. These data tend to support arguments favoring the use of I-124 over I-131 in radiation therapy of thyroid carcinoma by virtue of greater uniformity of the tumor irradiation.