Radionuclides which emit short range, high LET radiations such as alpha and Auger electrons have very promising applications in cancer therapy. Such radionuclides should eventually be incorporated into cell nuclei to achieve high radiotoxic effectiveness. This means that the dose distribution within the cell nucleus at microscopic levels is very important for comparison of the real differences between the radiotoxic effectiveness of different radionuclides. An experimental setup to determine real dose absorption on the microscopic scale is extremely difficult to design. For this reason, calculation procedures for microscopic dose absorption are of special interest for the diagnostic and therapeutic applications of radionuclides which emit short-range and high LET radiations. A specific calculation method for microscopic energy absorptions within the cell nucleus from Auger electrons of 125I was described earlier. In this study, the radiotoxic effectiveness of 211At and 125I has been compared using the data obtained by this calculation method. The data obtained show clearly that the radiotoxicity of the alpha and Auger emitter radionuclide 211At is comparable to that of 125I.
Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.