Fluorine18FESQualityChecker
Fluorine-18 FES
Utility description: Fluorine-18 FES
Fluorine-18 FES Quality Checker — Fluorine-18 FES for PET Imaging of Estrogen Receptors
ℹ️ Utility checks critical parameters of [18F]Fluoroestradiol (FES):
• Radionuclidic purity (≥99.9%)
• Radiochemical purity (≥95%)
• Free Fluoride-18 impurity (≤5.0%)
• Precursor/Cold FES impurity (≤2.0%)
• Specific activity (≥100 GBq/μmol) — CRITICAL!
• Residual solvents (ethanol), pH, endotoxins, sterility
⚠️ CRITICAL: Specific activity <100 GBq/μmol → RECEPTOR SATURATION!
Estrogen receptors have low capacity. Excess "cold" substance blocks binding of the radioactive tracer, rendering scanning useless.
Usage:
Fluorine18FESQualityChecker.exe → demo mode (console output)
Fluorine18FESQualityChecker.exe input.csv output.json → evaluate your data
Input format:
BatchNumber,RadionuclidicPurityPercent,RadiochemicalPurityPercent,FreeFluoridePercent,PrecursorImpurityPercent,pH,EndotoxinsEU,SterilityTest,HeavyMetalsPPM,ResidualEthanolPercent,SpecificActivityGBqPerUmol
Example (sterility: 0=sterile, 1=contaminated):
F18-FES-2026-001,99.99,98.5,1.0,0.2,7.0,25.0,0,1,5.0,250.0
— WHY IS THIS NEEDED?
[18F]FES is used for non-invasive assessment of Estrogen Receptor (ER) expression in vivo:
• Main application: Breast Cancer (predicting response to hormonal therapy)
• Mechanism: Specific binding to intracellular estrogen receptors
• Advantage: Allows assessment of tumor heterogeneity and ER status in metastases where biopsy is difficult
⚠️ CRITICAL:
• Specific activity ≥100 GBq/μmol (often >200 GBq/μmol required) — this is the strictest parameter for FES. Even microgram amounts of cold estradiol can occupy a significant fraction of receptors.
• Radiochemical purity ≥95% — ensures specific binding
• Free Fluoride ≤5.0% — bone accumulation can interfere with bone metastasis assessment
• Residual Solvents (Ethanol) — controlled per ICH Q3C
• pH 4.5–8.5 — physiological range
• Endotoxins ≤175 EU/vial — safety standard
• Sterility — MANDATORY
Key features:
• Increased specific activity threshold (100 GBq/μmol vs 50 for other F-18 drugs)
• Specific control of free fluoride
• Residual solvent check
Critical parameters:
• Radionuclidic purity: ≥99.9%
• Radiochemical purity: ≥95.0%
• Free Fluoride-18: ≤5.0%
• Precursor/Cold drug: ≤2.0%
• Specific activity: ≥100.0 GBq/μmol (STRICT!)
• Ethanol: ≤10.0%
• pH: 4.5–8.5
• Endotoxins: ≤175 EU/vial
• Sterility: no microbial growth
• Heavy metals: ≤10 ppm
💡 Usage tips:
1. Specific activity determined by HPLC with UV detector (for mass) and radioactive detector (for activity). UV sensitivity must be high.
2. FES synthesis requires thorough purification from unreacted precursor and cold standard.
3. Free fluoride controlled by TLC.
⚠️ Note: FES is the gold standard for ER imaging. Error in specific activity control leads to false-negative results (apparent absence of receptors due to blockade by cold substance).input.csv
BatchNumber,RadionuclidicPurityPercent,RadiochemicalPurityPercent,FreeFluoridePercent,PrecursorImpurityPercent,pH,EndotoxinsEU,SterilityTest,HeavyMetalsPPM,ResidualEthanolPercent,SpecificActivityGBqPerUmol F18-FES-2026-001,99.99,98.5,1.0,0.2,7.0,25.0,0,1,5.0,250.0 F18-FES-2026-002,99.95,94.0,6.5,1.0,6.8,100.0,0,5,8.0,80.0 F18-FES-2026-003,99.98,99.0,0.5,0.1,7.2,10.0,0,1,2.0,350.0
URS & FS — User Requirements and Functional Specification
This document describes the controlled interface and behaviour of Fluorine18FESQualityChecker for Fluorine-18 FES.
Domain limits and critical parameters
- ℹ️ Utility checks critical parameters of [18F]Fluoroestradiol (FES):
- • Radionuclidic purity (≥99.9%)
- • Radiochemical purity (≥95%)
- • Free Fluoride-18 impurity (≤5.0%)
- • Precursor/Cold FES impurity (≤2.0%)
- • Specific activity (≥100 GBq/μmol) — CRITICAL!
- • Residual solvents (ethanol), pH, endotoxins, sterility
- ⚠️ CRITICAL: Specific activity <100 GBq/μmol → RECEPTOR SATURATION!
- BatchNumber,RadionuclidicPurityPercent,RadiochemicalPurityPercent,FreeFluoridePercent,PrecursorImpurityPercent,pH,EndotoxinsEU,SterilityTest,HeavyMetalsPPM,ResidualEthanolPercent,SpecificActivityGBqPerUmol
- Example (sterility: 0=sterile, 1=contaminated):
- ⚠️ CRITICAL:
- • Specific activity ≥100 GBq/μmol (often >200 GBq/μmol required) — this is the strictest parameter for FES. Even microgram amounts of cold estradiol can occupy a significant fraction of receptors.
- • Radiochemical purity ≥95% — ensures specific binding
- • Free Fluoride ≤5.0% — bone accumulation can interfere with bone metastasis assessment
URS — User Requirements Specification
| ID | Requirement | Criticality | Acceptance criterion |
|---|---|---|---|
| URS-001 | The utility shall accept an input.csv file with the exact headers defined in the data contract. | High | The file is processed without manual header editing. |
| URS-002 | The utility shall perform deterministic QC evaluation for Fluorine-18 FES using input values, approved limits and domain rules. | High | Each input row receives a PASS / WARNING / FAIL status. |
| URS-003 | The utility shall validate mandatory fields, data types, numeric ranges, units and pharmaceutical/radiochemical plausibility. | High | Schema and conversion errors are explicitly reported. |
| URS-004 | The utility shall identify critical deviations related to radionuclidic purity, radiochemical purity, free radionuclide, impurities, pH, endotoxins and sterility when such fields are present. | High | A critical deviation causes FAIL or a separate critical finding. |
| URS-005 | The utility shall generate output.json with machine-readable results, source values, warnings and failures. | High | JSON is suitable for LIMS/ELN/MES integration and QA/QC review. |
| URS-006 | The utility shall not use machine learning to decide conformance. | Medium | The result is based on explicit rules, thresholds and input values. |
| URS-007 | The utility shall preserve traceability between batch number, input values, applied rules and final status. | High | The output contains the batch identifier and the list of checked parameters. |
| URS-008 | The documentation shall support IQ/OQ preparation and inspection discussion with FDA/EMA/Roszdravnadzor or local regulators. | Medium | URS & FS, input.csv/output.json contract and test scenarios are supplied with the utility. |
input.csv contract
| # | Field | Type | Sample | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BatchNumber | string | F18-FES-2026-001 | Batch or lot identifier used for traceability. |
| 2 | RadionuclidicPurityPercent | string | 99.99 | Radionuclidic purity; a critical radiation-safety and impurity parameter. |
| 3 | RadiochemicalPurityPercent | string | 98.5 | Radiochemical purity; confirms the labelled chemical form and binding quality. |
| 4 | FreeFluoridePercent | string | 1.0 | Free radionuclide / unbound species; important for non-target uptake and toxicity. |
| 5 | PrecursorImpurityPercent | string | 0.2 | Controlled impurity or residual material. |
| 6 | pH | decimal | 7.0 | Solution pH; relevant for stability, compatibility and administration. |
| 7 | EndotoxinsEU | decimal | 25.0 | Bacterial endotoxins; critical for parenteral administration. |
| 8 | SterilityTest | flag / boolean | 0 | Sterility result; critical release parameter. |
| 9 | HeavyMetalsPPM | decimal | 1 | Elemental impurity / metal residue parameter. |
| 10 | ResidualEthanolPercent | string | 5.0 | Controlled input parameter used by the deterministic QC rules. |
| 11 | SpecificActivityGBqPerUmol | decimal | 250.0 | Radioactivity value used for release, decay or dose-related assessment. |
BatchNumber,RadionuclidicPurityPercent,RadiochemicalPurityPercent,FreeFluoridePercent,PrecursorImpurityPercent,pH,EndotoxinsEU,SterilityTest,HeavyMetalsPPM,ResidualEthanolPercent,SpecificActivityGBqPerUmol F18-FES-2026-001,99.99,98.5,1.0,0.2,7.0,25.0,0,1,5.0,250.0 F18-FES-2026-002,99.95,94.0,6.5,1.0,6.8,100.0,0,5,8.0,80.0 F18-FES-2026-003,99.98,99.0,0.5,0.1,7.2,10.0,0,1,2.0,350.0
FS — Functional Specification
| ID | Function | Implementation |
|---|---|---|
| FS-001 | CSV import | Read input.csv in UTF-8/CSV-compatible format and validate the header and expected columns. |
| FS-002 | Schema validation | Check mandatory fields and column count; report unknown or missing key fields. |
| FS-003 | Type conversion | Convert numeric, flag and text values; invalid formats are recorded as row-level errors. |
| FS-004 | Domain rule engine | Apply domain rules for Fluorine-18 FES, including critical limits from the utility description and approved specification. |
| FS-005 | Status aggregation | Produce final status: FAIL for critical failure, WARNING for non-critical deviation, PASS for conformance. |
| FS-006 | JSON export | Write output.json with detailed checks, source values, warnings, failures and critical findings. |
| FS-007 | Audit support | Keep the result structure suitable for review, deviation investigation, calculation reproduction and IQ/OQ preparation. |
| FS-008 | Integration contract | Support the production scenario: LIMS/ELN/MES creates input.csv, the utility returns output.json, the portal displays description and documentation. |
Example output.json
{
"utilityId": "fluorine18-fes-quality-checker",
"api": "Fluorine-18 FES",
"overallStatus": "PASS|WARNING|FAIL",
"sourceFile": "input.csv",
"checks": [
{
"parameter": "BatchNumber",
"value": "F18-FES-2026-001",
"status": "PASS|WARNING|FAIL",
"message": "Rule-based check result"
},
{
"parameter": "RadionuclidicPurityPercent",
"value": "99.99",
"status": "PASS|WARNING|FAIL",
"message": "Rule-based check result"
},
{
"parameter": "RadiochemicalPurityPercent",
"value": "98.5",
"status": "PASS|WARNING|FAIL",
"message": "Rule-based check result"
},
{
"parameter": "FreeFluoridePercent",
"value": "1.0",
"status": "PASS|WARNING|FAIL",
"message": "Rule-based check result"
},
{
"parameter": "PrecursorImpurityPercent",
"value": "0.2",
"status": "PASS|WARNING|FAIL",
"message": "Rule-based check result"
},
{
"parameter": "pH",
"value": "7.0",
"status": "PASS|WARNING|FAIL",
"message": "Rule-based check result"
},
{
"parameter": "EndotoxinsEU",
"value": "25.0",
"status": "PASS|WARNING|FAIL",
"message": "Rule-based check result"
},
{
"parameter": "SterilityTest",
"value": "0",
"status": "PASS|WARNING|FAIL",
"message": "Rule-based check result"
}
],
"criticalFindings": []
}
OQ/PQ test scenarios
| ID | Scenario | Expected result |
|---|---|---|
| OQ-001 | Valid sample row | PASS or acceptable WARNING according to the rules. |
| OQ-002 | Mandatory column missing | Schema error or FAIL. |
| OQ-003 | Non-numeric value in numeric field | Type-conversion error. |
| OQ-004 | Critical parameter outside limit | FAIL and critical finding. |
| PQ-001 | User real batch/lot | Reviewed result with input.csv and output.json retained. |
QA/QC and change control
- Do not rename columns without updating the validator and test set.
- Retain
input.csv,output.json, executable version and checksum. - Before production use, perform IQ/OQ/PQ or equivalent CSV/CSA verification.
- Critical radiopharmaceutical limits must be verified against the approved specification and local SOPs.
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Open