Isotope Shortage Research Articles

Reduce, reuse and recycle: A green solution to Canada's medical isotope shortage

Due to the unforeseen maintenance issues at the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor at Chalk River and coincidental shutdowns of other international reactors, a global shortage of medical isotopes (in particular technetium-99m, Tc-99m) occurred in 2009. The operation of these research reactors is expensive, their age creates concerns about their continued maintenance and the process results in a large amount of long-lived nuclear waste, whose storage cost has been subsidized by governments. While the NRU has since revived its operations, it is scheduled to cease isotope production in 2016. The Canadian government created the Non-reactor based medical Isotope Supply Program (NISP) to promote research into alternative methods for producing medical isotopes. The NRC was a member of a collaboration looking into the use of electron linear accelerators (LINAC) to produce molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), the parent isotope of Tc-99m. This paper outlines NRC’s involvement in every step of this process, from the production, chemical processing, recycling and preliminary animal studies to demonstrate the equivalence of LINAC Tc-99m with the existing supply. This process stems from reusing an old idea, reduces the nuclear waste to virtually zero and recycles material to create a green solution to Canada's medical isotope shortage.

Nuclear pharmacists cope with isotope shortage

A long-standing shortage of technetium 99m (99mTc) generators has nuclear pharmacists changing their methods so that patients can receive critical imaging studies. “We’ve done things like reducing the dosages that we’re providing for the studies, which means that oftentimes the imaging procedure takes a little bit longer,” said George Hinkle, professor of pharmacy and director of nuclear pharmacy at Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus. In addition, he said, “we’ve shifted some of our diagnostic studies that would typically use a technetium 99 product to using another radionuclide, one that’s not in critical shortage because it’s not made by a nuclear reactor.” According to FDA, 99mTc is used in about 80% of all nuclear imaging studies done in the United States. Until last year, nearly all of the U.S. supply of molybdenum 99, the parent nuclide of 99mTc, was produced by two nuclear reactors—one in Chalk River, Ontario, and another in Petten, the Netherlands. The rest came from other nuclear reactors outside the United States.

Polish reactor may aid medical isotope shortage

Polish reactor may aid medical isotope shortage

MEDICAL ISOTOPES DOE provides grants to relieve shortage of critical diagnostics aid

As the global shortage of radioactive isotopes used for medical imaging diagnostics worsens, the Department of Energy has given grants to two firms to further develop new sources for the materials. The National Nuclear Security Administration, an arm of DOE, awarded $9 million to engineering firm Babcock & Wilcox and $2.3 million to nuclear reactor maker GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy. Both firms say they will match the awards to develop domestic sources for the isotopes, which are used in 20 million U.S. procedures, such as heart-stress scans and blood-flow monitoring, each year. Two aging reactors, one in Canada and one in the Netherlands, currently supply the bulk of the U.S.’s demand for molybdenum-99, the raw material for medical isotope technetium-99m. Supply from these reactors has been severely constrained recently (C&EN, Aug. 24, 2009, page 9). Ross Thomas, chief technical officer for Babcock & Wilcox, says the firm is adapting a decades-old reactor design that ...

Canada's Nuclear Medicine Community Adapting to Medical Isotope Shortage but Long-Term Solutions Critical

Canada's Nuclear Medicine Community Adapting to Medical Isotope Shortage but Long-Term Solutions Critical

An automated method for preparation of [ 18F]sodium fluoride for injection, USP to address the technetium-99m isotope shortage

The worldwide shortage of technetium-99m has created an immediate and urgent need for access to [ 18F]sodium fluoride for PET imaging of bone metastasis. In order to facilitate global availability of [ 18F]sodium fluoride for diagnostic nuclear medicine imaging procedures, a straightforward method for rapid production of [ 18F]sodium fluoride for injection, USP, using a modified GE Tracerlab FX-FN is presented.

PHARMACEUTICALS Extended reactor outage worsens shortage of imaging isotopes

A longer-than-expected shutdown at a Canadian nuclear reactor is worsening a global shortage of isotopes for medical imaging procedures such as bone scans and blood-flow monitoring. Atomic Energy of Canada has disclosed that its reactor in Chalk River, Ontario, will be out of commission until the first quarter of 2010. When the reactor was first shut down in May after a heavy-water leak, the agency anticipated only a threemonth outage (C&EN, June 1, page 8). The reactor produces about 50% of the world’s supply of molybdenum-99, the raw material for technetium-99m, a key isotope in medical imaging. According to Covidien, a major imaging company, medical communities in the U.S. and Canada are most affected by the outage. In a letter to customers, John Collins, the firm’s vice president for U.S. operations, warned that the situation could get worse early next year when a reactor in the Netherlands goes down for six months of extensive maintenance. ...

Medical Isotope Shortage

Medical Isotope Shortage

Shortages no more: Fixing the isotope supply chain

When something as important as the world’s medical isotope supply can be compromised by the closure of a single facility, people get worried. With another isotope shortage causing them grief, nuclear medicine practitioners appear worried enough to look beyond short-term workarounds to long-term

Medical isotope shortage reaches crisis level again

Medical isotope shortage reaches crisis level again

Medical isotope shortage reaches crisis level

Medical isotope shortage reaches crisis level

Europe's isotope shortage will continue into 2009

Europe's isotope shortage will continue into 2009

Europe's isotope shortage will continue into 2009

Europe's isotope shortage will continue into 2009

NUCLEAR MEDICINE Temporary reactor shutdowns bring shortage of isotopes

A shortage of medical isotopes has developed in Europe, according to the European Association of Nuclear Medicine. The association says that nuclear medical clinics can no longer carry out a large part of their diagnostic and therapeutic activities and that many patients face danger to their health. The isotopes—primarily molybdenum-99, from which technetium-99m is generated—are used in more than 80% of routine nuclear-imaging tests for procedures such as cardiac blood-flow imaging, bone scanning for secondary tumors, and renal function monitoring. The shortage stems from temporary shutdowns of the major nuclear reactors that make the isotopes. They are down for several reasons, including routine maintenance, repairs following a lightning strike, and the correction of operating errors, pointed out Andrew Hilson, a nuclear medicine specialist at the Royal Free Hospital, in London, in a recent BBC Radio interview. The situation became serious after the late-August idling of a reactor in Petten, the Netherla...

Isotope shortage could delay cancer treatments

Isotope shortage could delay cancer treatments

Isotope shortage could delay cancer treatments

Isotope shortage could delay cancer treatments

Canadian hospitals rise to the occasion during isotope shortage

The initial notice came late and the news quickly got grimmer, according to radiologists like Dr. Andrew Ross of the Halifax, Nova Scotia–based Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre. Ross had entered his hospital's nuclear medicine department on a Wednesday last December expecting business as

U.S. faces stable isotope shortage

U.S. faces stable isotope shortage