In cyclotrons charged particles are circular accelerated to bombard atoms. Short-lived positron-emitting isotopes are produced for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging (e.g. F-18).

See also Linear Accelerator, Metastable Condition, Meson, Fluorodeoxyglucose, Electric Polarization.

Ion particles accelerated in a cyclotron are diverted by a magnetic field to a circular course until a desired energy is reached. The ion beam resulting from this procedure is e.g. used for the production of radionuclides.

See also Ion, Cyclotron.

An accelerator uses electrostatic or electromagnetic fields to increase the kinetic energy of charged particles (see alpha particle, beta particle) in order to produce ionization or a nuclear reaction in a target.
Accelerators (see cyclotron, linear accelerator) are used for the production of radionuclides (see Fluorine-18, Molybdenum, Technetium-99m) or directly for radiation therapy. Accelerator-produced radioactive material (ARM) is any radioactive substance that is produced by a particle accelerator. The accelerators used for radiation therapy generate gamma rays (also called Bremsstrahlung) with continuous energy by collision of high energy electrons on materials with high density (also referred as 'high z' - chemical elements with a high atomic number (Z)).
Electron accelerators with energies above 10 MeV can also produce neutrons induced by photons in the accelerator head material (mainly caused by photo nuclear reaction).

The cerebral blood pool can be imaged with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission computer tomography (PET) techniques. The used radiopharmaceuticals are technetium-99m labeled red blood cells (RCBs) for SPECT and O-15 labeled water for PET imaging. Measured can be cerebral blood volume, brain perfusion and cerebral metabolism.

See Cerebral Metabolic Imaging, Fluorodeoxyglucose, Regional Cerebral Blood Flow, Coincidence Detection, Annihilation Coincidence Detection and Cyclotron.