The development of xenon-133 has had both detrimental and beneficial impacts on society and its economy. Its a radiopharmaceutical imaging agent that utilises radioactive decay

by lewistapfumastudentntschoolsne (student)

How the utilisation of nuclear technology, has influenced the usage of radioisotopes and radiation in the substance xenon-133 within nuclear medicine.

Introduction:

The area of nuclear medicine, is derived from the specialized formation of radiology that utilises microscopic increments of radioactive materials, and radioactive tracers (radiopharmaceuticals), to analyse detrimental internal functions of an individual’s body (Nih.gov, 2016). This investigation will explore how nuclear technology has influenced nuclear physicists and medical practitioners, in exploiting and developing xenon’s radioisotope, xenon-133 to analyse chronic issues to an individual’s respiratory system. This report will then examine multiple societal related implications that have occurred due to a lack of sufficient data present in long term animal studies.

Relative Physics Concepts:

Figure 1.0: Xenon 133 – Nuclide notation (Writersreserve.com, 2017)

The atomic structure of xenon-133 consists of a unified relative mass and the atomic number being constant to 54. The reason to this is because an isotope, or in this case, a radioisotope will always have a constant number of positively charged protons (atomic number). If the number of protons in the nucleus changes, this process is known as chemical transmutation. Xenon-133 differs in the number of neutrons, thus effecting the mass number (protons + neutrons). Xenon- is a reactor produced radiopharmaceutical that is formed through the fission of uranium–235. In this process, uranium–235 does not decay into xenon, although it creates fission fragments of these daughter isotopes (Chemistry Learner, 2011). And through this process, xenon-133 will gain an additional number of neutrons composed of 3 quarks per neutron, more specifically one up quark and two down quarks with a number of intermediate particles circulating around the daughter isotopes (Fnal.gov, 2012).

Figure 2.0: Nuclear fission reaction (Atomicarchive.com, 2020).

The electrostatic force given by the equation; , cannot overcome strong nuclear force (at certain distances, figure 3.0) present in the nucleus, consequentially making uranium-235 split into two similarly sized fission products as seen in figure 2.0.

Beta negative decay occurs when Xenon has too many neutrons after uranium-235 creates fission fragments of the daughter isotopes. Xenon-133 will emit a high speed electron, and an antineutriono , as seen in figure 4.0. Due to (atomic number), the daughter nucleus will modify its neutrons to protons. And in this process, xenon-133 emits ionising particles of beta particles with a decay energy of 0.427 MeV (Chemistry Learner, 2011). This equation can be presented as:

(xenon-133 has decayed into Cesium-133, thus making it the daughter nuclide of xenon-133)

Figure 4.0: Beta Decay (Chemistry LibreTexts, 2020)

Furthermore, when xenon-133 reacts with uranium–235, xenon-133 will gain an additional number of neutrons causing an

energy differentiation in the nucleus; thus making it unstable (US EPA, 2018). In order to stabilize the radioactive nuclide, xenon-133

will release small increments of gamma emissions, as seen in figure 5.0, in the form of high energy electromagnetic radiation waves

(Sciencedirect.com, 2021).

Figure 5.0: Gamma emission (Chemistry LibreTexts, 2020)

Gamma decay ...

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(xenon-133 has decayed into Cesium-133, thus making it the daughter nuclide of xenon-133)

Figure 4.0: Beta Decay (Chemistry LibreTexts, 2020)

Furthermore, when xenon-133 reacts with uranium–235, xenon-133 will gain an additional number of neutrons causing an

energy differentiation in the nucleus; thus making it unstable (US EPA, 2018). In order to stabilize the radioactive nuclide, xenon-133

will release small increments of gamma emissions, as seen in figure 5.0, in the form of high energy electromagnetic radiation waves

(Sciencedirect.com, 2021).

Figure 5.0: Gamma emission (Chemistry LibreTexts, 2020)

Gamma decay occurs due to the nucleus being in an excited state or in this scenario, the nucleus has too much energy to be stable after the fission reaction with uranium-235. In a gamma decay, there is no change in mass or the atomic number of the daughter nuclide (CK-12 Foundation, 2012). Therefore this equation can be presented as:

energy (The * indicates the nucleus is unstable before emitting the gamma ray)

Science as a Human Endeavour: Development Concept:

A half-life is the interval taken for a radioactive substance to decay from exactly 1/2 of its atomic nuclei (Mind.org.uk, 2020). Given by the equation, , scientists are able to determine the rate of decay a radioactive substance will undergo.

Figure 6.0: Xenon-133 in comparison to other well-known ventilation imaging reagents (Schembri et al., 2015)

With a physical half-life of 5.2 days, and a biological half-life of 30 seconds; xenon-133 has improved the efficiency and scientific procedures of radiopharmaceuticals that are used as an imaging agent. As seen in figure 6.0, xenon-133’s imaging resolution is far more visible than the other imaging agents. In conjunction to this, many medical practitioners such as Geoffrey P. Schembri MBBS, and Leonard Freeman MD, have indicated that the best imaging agent within pulmonary functionality is xenon-133 and krypton-81m. Even though they did indicate that there was slightly better upper lobe distribution within Krypton-81m, the cost per production of xenon-133 is significantly cheaper than krypton-81m (Hartmann IJ;Hagen PJ;Stokkel MP;Hoekstra OS;Prins MH, 2021).

Applications:

Xenon-133 has enabled scientist to develop solutions and make discoveries that have immeasurably benefitted the medical community. Alan Waxman MD, and Yoko Ozawa MD, have described that xenon-133 is capable of being used for pre/postperfusion (Sciencedirect.com, 2013).This is a phenomenon whereby an individual who has had heart surgery, acquires abnormal pulmonary function, and thus they have never been able to explore this at an inexpensive rate (www.dictionary.com, 2014). The medical practitioners also described how inexpensive and reliable xenon-133 has been (Sciencedirect.com, 2013). And in the medical field, the price per production has been essential as Alan Waxman described they were able to establish postpneumonectomy stump leakage like never before. This demonstrates how xenon-133, has revolutionized nuclear medicine, as it has led to scientist making discoveries and developing solutions.

Limitations:

Over the past few years, there has been public debates circulating around whether xenon-133 is a suitable radiopharmaceutical for pulmonary evaluation. With other contenders such as krypton-81m and Technegas, many medical practitioners such as Geoffrey P. Schembri MBBS, became curious as to why use xenon-133. And their public debates were correct, currently there has not been any credible long term animal study with xenon-133 (NDA 018327/S-005, 2021). Due to there not being an ideal level of depth in nuclear medicine (as it is such a recent discovery), this limitation could negatively affect society. Furthermore, this could even lead to pregnant mothers being subjected to having chromosome deficiency children and individuals in society suffering from other chronicle genetic mutations (Chemistry Learner, 2011). Even though other sources have said that the chance of receiving any long-term risks within xenon-133 is about a 1/1000 chance (Vinjamuri and Pandit, 2014), the lack of data and information will forever endanger our society; as we may be exposing ourselves with irreversible damages that could forever stain our future civilization.

Conclusion:

The development of xenon-133 has had both detrimental and beneficial impacts on society and its economy. It’s a radiopharmaceutical imaging agent that utilises radioactive decay such as beta negative decay and, gamma emissions to help emit ionizing particles that play a significant role as an imaging agent. As nuclear physicist gain a deeper understanding in nuclear medicine, there are many exciting possibilities that could help enable scientist to develop solutions that would immeasurably benefit the medical community. The next step into the utilisation of xenon-133, would be to further research the long-term effects it can have on animals to help reduce the gap of understanding in this radiopharmaceutical.

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