A geografia dos radiofármacos: o caso do flúor-18 no Piauí

Abstract

The objective of this article was to identify the difficulties that Piauí faces in obtaining radiopharmaceuticals marked with fluorine-18, the problems caused by its non-use, as well as to question the sectorization of radiopharmaceutical production in Brazil. This is a research based on a qualitative exploratory approach and data collection through bibliographic research and semi structured interviews. It was found that the acquisition of PET/CT equipment, in which radiopharmaceuticals marked with fluorine-18 are used, is a high investment and the lack of health plans covering this type of procedure leads to little demand for PET/CT exams, the number of clinics offering nuclear medicine services is reduced, therefore, the state becomes unattractive for units producing radiopharmaceuticals marked with fluorine-18, making access to this material difficult and causing harm to the health of patients who they do not have many options for carrying out such an exam. It is concluded that, in addition to the economic difficulties, most of the producing units, both private and CNEN, are in an uneven distribution, a better distribution and an increase in the number of production units in the less contemplated regions could facilitate the acquisition of fluorine-18, not only in Piauí, but also in other states with similar access difficulties.