Investigation of production routes for the 161Ho Auger-electron emitting radiolanthanide, a candidate for therapy

The radiolanthanide 161Ho (2.48 h) is a promising Auger-electron emitter for internal radiotherapy that can be produced with particle accelerators. The excitation functions of the natDy(p,xn)161Ho and natDy(d,x)161Ho reactions were measured up to 40 and 50 MeV respectively by using the stacked foil activation method and gamma-ray spectrometry. The experimental data were compared with results of the TALYS code available in the TENDL 2011 library [1]. The main parameters of different production routes are discussed.