Analysis of Scintillation Materials for Nuclear Medicine on the Basis of Patent Analytics

Abstract

Introduction. It is known that the object of intellectual property is an important source of technological information that can be used for assessing the industry development and the prospects for further study of scintillation materials, finding competitors, etc.Problem Statement. Today, nuclear medicine is very popular all over the world. Scintillation crystals are one of the main materials used in modern diagnostic devices. Therefore, the development of highly efficient scintillation materials for medical imaging systems is a relevant task.Purpose. The patent activity analysis for nuclear medicine is purposed to find out the dynamics of patenting scintillation materials used in this field for the period 1992—2022 as well as to determine the most priority and important research directions.Material and Methods. The patent search has been made with the help of special search programs: information database Lens.org and specialized database Inventions (Utility models) in Ukraine. While doing the research, we used the methods of analysis, systematization, and comparison.Results. Assessing the development of scintillation materials for nuclear medicine based on patent analysis allows us to analyse the available scintillation materials for this industry, to find new materials for it, and to identify more promising directions for its development.Conclusions. American companies have the largest number of patents on scintillation materials used in nuclear medicine, but in the Ukrainian market, there are similar patents. The main scintillators for nuclear medicine are BGO, CdWO4, ZnWO4, LSO, LYSO, GSO, NaI, CsI, BaF2, LaBr3, LuAP, LuAG, GGAG, LGSO, CaF2: Eu, ZnSe : Te, Gd2O2S : Tb or mixed scintillators such as NaBaLaBr6, Cs2NaLaCl6, etc. in the design of pixels. They are used as bulk crystals, ceramics, films and others. There appear patents on new materials, such as MAPbBr3, CeBr3+x, Tl2LiLaBr6, the properties and prospects for application of which have been currently being studied.