Development of a radioguided surgery technique with beta- decays in brain tumor resection

Radio-guided surgery (RGS) is a technique adopted by the surgeon to perform a complete lesion resection, taking advantage from the uptake from the tumor of specific radiolabelled tracers. Established methods make use of γ emitting tracer and γ radiation detection probe. To extend the applicability of RGS, we are developing an innovative technique exploiting β- radiation [1]. It penetrates only a few mm resulting both in a lower required radio-pharmaceutical activity and the possibility to apply the technique also to cases with a large uptake of nearby healthy organs. Low background rate is also correlated with low medical team exposure.