ABSTRACT
Radiopharmacy, also known as nuclear pharmacy, is an established multidisciplinary field that involves the preparation and/or manufacturing of radiopharmaceuticals for administration to humans to diagnose or treat diseases. This chapter addresses some basic principles of radiopharmacy and serves as this book’s introductory chapter to the field of radiopharmacy. This chapter describes a typical workflow of manufacturing a radiopharmaceutical, clarifies the different methods for synthesis, and highlights some recent developments in radiopharmacy. Covered in other chapters are more in-depth details regarding specific PET and SPECT radiopharmaceuticals, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) requirements as well as applications of radiopharmaceuticals.
