# Yttrium-86

Source: https://nuclide.cc/isotopes/y-86/  
Nuclide record `y-86` (Isotope). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from Nuclide (nuclide.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

A PET-visible radioactive stand-in for the treatment isotope yttrium-90, used to see in advance, on a scan, exactly where a yttrium-90 therapy dose would go and how much radiation each organ would receive.

## Summary

Yttrium-90, used for radioembolisation (TARE/SIRT) and older radioimmunotherapy agents, is a pure beta emitter with no directly imageable gamma or positron emission, which makes patient-specific pre-therapy dosimetry difficult. Yttrium-86 solves that problem: it is chemically identical to yttrium-90, so an 86Y-labelled version of the same antibody, peptide or microsphere construct has an identical biodistribution, and its 14.7-hour half-life with about 33% positron emission allows PET imaging over two to three days, long enough to build a full time-activity curve and calculate the organ and tumour doses a subsequent 90Y therapy would deliver.

It is produced on a cyclotron via 86Sr(p,n)86Y on an enriched strontium-86 target (typically SrCO3 or SrO), the preferred route because it gives the highest radionuclidic purity; the main radionuclidic impurity, 87mY, is normally kept below a few percent when highly enriched target material is used. Bombardments of a few hours at modest beam currents (2-6 microamps) are typical.

The approach was first used clinically at Forschungszentrum Jülich for pre-therapy dosimetry ahead of 90Y-citrate treatment of bone metastases, and has since been applied to 86Y-DOTA-peptide imaging ahead of 90Y-labelled somatostatin analogue therapy; it remains a research and specialist-dosimetry tool rather than a routinely stocked clinical isotope, since both the cyclotron target and the imaging protocol are non-standard.

## Fields

- Kind: Isotope
- Status: preclinical
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Also known as: 86Y
- Tags: positron emitter; dosimetry surrogate; theranostic pair

## Sources

- PMC: 86Y-based PET radiopharmaceuticals, radiochemistry and applications: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3184346/
- DOE Isotope Program (NIDC): yttrium-86 availability: https://www.isotopes.gov/node/215

## Connected records

- technologies: [Albumin-binder ligands](https://nuclide.cc/technologies/albumin-binder-ligands/), [Cyclotron isotope production (F-18, Ga-68, Cu-64, Zr-89, At-211)](https://nuclide.cc/technologies/cyclotron-isotope-production/), [PET (positron emission tomography)](https://nuclide.cc/technologies/pet/), [Radioligand dosimetry](https://nuclide.cc/technologies/radioligand-dosimetry/)
- terms: [Chelator (bifunctional chelating agent)](https://nuclide.cc/terms/chelator-term/), [Theranostic pair](https://nuclide.cc/terms/theranostic-pair-term/)

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