Abstract: Background and purpose: In preparation for using this tracer in humans, this study estimated the dosimetry of ¹⁸F-FES with the method established by MIRD based on whole-body PET imaging of mice. Methods: Three female mice received Ⅳ tail injections of ¹⁸F-FES and were scanned for 160 min in an Inveon dedicated PET/CT scanner. This study selected some important organs (brain, lung, liver, heart wall, small intestine, large intestine, kidney and urinary bladder), computed their residence times. Then, the residence times in mice organs were converted to human values using scale factors based on differences between organ and body weights. OLINDA/EXM 1.1 software was used to compute the absorbed human doses in multiple organs for both adult female and adult male body phantoms. Results: The highest absorbed doses in gallbladder wall, urinary bladder wall, small intestine, upper large intestine and liver are 0.072 5, 0.044 5, 0.043 0, 0.031 5 and 0.028 2 mGy/MBq, respectively. The organs which have the lowest absorbed doses were brain (0.005 2 mGy/MBq), followed by skin (0.001 1 mGy/MBq), breast (0.001 1 mGy/MBq), heart wall (0.001 2 mGy/MBq) and thyroid (0.001 2 mGy/MBq). The mean absorbed doses for the other major organs ranged from 0.009 5 to 0.023 5 mGy/MBq. The total mean effective dose is 0.019 0 mSv/MBq and the mean effective doses equivalent is 0.025 0 mGy/MBq. A 370-MBq injection of ¹⁸F-FES leads to an estimated effective dose of 7.03 mSv for the female. There was no statistical difference in the doses results obtained from direct measurement of ¹⁸F-FES absorption in normal people between previous publications by others and our work. Conclusion: The whole-body mouse imaging can be used as a preclinical tool for initial estimation of the absorbed doses of ¹⁸F-FES in humans. Furthermore, the potential radiation risk associated with ¹⁸F-FES imaging is well within the accepted limits.

Key words: ¹⁸F-FES, Biodistribution, Radiation dosimetry, Mice