Germanium medical application

Since plants used as herb medicines contain high amounts of germanium compounds, the latter have been regarded as having immunopotentiation and antitumour activities. At present, organogermanium compounds are mainly used for medical applications. For example, Ge-132 is well known to have not only an antitumour effect, but also to induce interferon (IFN) production in vivo8. 

The Brookhaven Linear Isotope Producer (BLIP) at Brookhaven National Laboratory uses a linear accelerator that injects 200 MeV protons into the 33 GeV Alternating Gradient Synchrotron. The BLIP facility operates about 16 weeks per year and produces radioisotopes such as strontium-82, germanium-68, copper-67, and others that are used in medical diagnostic applications. 

Potentially useful single crystal HP-LCVD fibers include hafnium boride and tantalum carbide and have projected service temperatures ranging from 2170 to 2715 C. Presently envisioned applications include the potential use of these fibers as consumable sensors to monitor rocket exhaust temperatures. Other HP-LCVD sensor fibers, including Si, Ge and ZnSe, (Figure 15), promise to offer high value in premium automotive and medical sensor systems. Single crystal HP-LCVD germanium [20] and silicon carbide [21] fibers can now also become available for exploration. In summary, the HP-LCVD process is an ideally suited tool for the rapid fabrication and evaluation, without extensive process research, of test samples of potentially new fiber candidates for structural and sensor uses. 

There is a widespread application of germanium, although in small quantities (1000 tons/year), in the electronics industry, in the preparation of alloys, in the optical industry, as a catalyst, and in medical imaging devices. It is mainly obtained from flue dusts of zinc smelters or as a byproduct from the combustion of certain coals [7]. 

---