Worldwide Shortage of Isotopes Jeopardizes Patient Care

Millions of medical scans and treatments are performed each year that require radioactive isotopes, and scientists have cautioned that a global shortage of these life-saving materials that could endanger patient care and drive-up healthcare costs.

The investigators reported their findings in August 2010 at a symposium at one of the opening sessions of the 240th U.S. National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, held in Boston, MA, USA. "Although the public may not be fully aware, we are in the midst of a global shortage of medical and other isotopes," said Robert Atcher, Ph.D., MBA, in an interview. "If we don't have access to the best isotopes for medical imaging, doctors may be forced to resort to tests that are less accurate, involve higher radiation doses, are more invasive, and more expensive."

The shortage already is forcing some physicians to reduce the number of imaging procedures that they order for patients. Dr. Atcher directs the U.S. National Isotope Development Center (NIDC; Germantown, MD, USA), a U. S. Department of Energy unit that is responsible for production of isotopes in the United States.

Daily, more than 50,000 patients in the United States receive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures using medical isotopes, particularly individuals with heart problems and cancer. Eight out of every 10 procedures require one specific isotope, technetium-99m, which has a half-life of six hours. Thus, similar to other radioactive isotopes, technetium-99m cannot be stockpiled; it must be constantly made and distributed quickly to medical facilities.

Wolfgang Runde, Ph.D., who works with Dr. Atcher at the Los Alamos [U.S.] National Laboratory (Los Alamos, NM, USA), and presented a report on the situation at the meeting, reported that an unexpected shut down of a major isotope production facility in Chalk River, Ontario, Canada, in 2009 precipitated the shortage. Los Alamos also is part of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Chalk River facility was scheduled to restart the summer of 2010 but remained closed as of early August. The Chalk River facility produces 50% of the U.S. supply of the isotope used to make technetium-99m. Production difficulties occurred at other isotope facilities, compounding the problem. Remaining isotope suppliers have not been able to make-up for the resulting shortage, leaving the United States in an isotope supply crunch.

Dr. Atcher also noted that the United States is highly dependent on foreign suppliers of medical isotopes. Only approximately 10% - 15% of the isotopes used in medicine are produced domestically. The nuclear medicine community has been pressuring the U.S. government to develop improved domestic capability for producing these materials to reduce this dependence.

Related Links:
[U.S.] National Isotope Development Center
Los Alamos National Laboratory