Last year when the facility shut down in Canada shutdown about 50,000 medical tests and procedures were canceled. This week Petten reactor in The Netherlands went down with technical problems. There are only 5 major facilities in the world that product Isotopes. A reactor in Belgium that produces much of the same material closes this week.
Why is this an issue?
These isotopes are used in over 30 million different medical procedures around the world each year. Four out of five were down this week, leaving the facility in Canada to carry the load. 
The plant in Canada produces molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), which is the most widely used isotope in nuclear medicine. Mo-99 is artificially produced through the fission process and has a half-life of 66 hours. We have no Isotope facilities in the US. Covidien, a pharmaceutical manufacturer which distributes the isotopes, said it is warning clients to expect shortages starting Aug. 31.
Isotopes such as Mo-99 are used in diagnostic techniques, where they are taken into the body by injection or ingestion and absorbed by certain body cells and tissues. Technicians can then track the cells' movement by the trace radioactivity the isotopes give off. The isotopes are seen as essential tools against various kinds of cancer, nervous diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and cardiac complaints.
Maybe it's time for venture capitalists to start thinking about investing in nuclear medicine so we can have our own plant in the US.
Here's some of what Isotope therapy and treatment is all about: used for treatment of many types of cancer. If you have been scheduled for any cancer therapy related to the use to Isotopes, be ready for potential delays or re-scheduling at it was predicted there may be shortages all the way until October. BD
Brachytherapy is a form of cancer treatment where tiny "seeds" containing medical isotopes are accurately placed within and near a tumor. Brachytherapy is FDA approved and used for localized prostate cancer, liver cancer, head and neck cancers, gynecological cancers and others.
Radioimmunotherapy is a type of treatment where doctors inject antibodies that have isotopes attached like little backpacks. The antibodies (called monoclonal antibodies) then flow through the bloodstream and attach themselves to the cancerous cells. The energy from the medical isotopes is thus targeted straight to the cancer. This type of treatment is showing great promise for blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. Most Radioimmunotherapy treatments are still in clinical trials.
Medical isotopes can also be directed to cancerous cells by a carrier that has an attraction to a certain part of the body. Chemical phosphonates can be paired with medical isotopes and sent to the bone, since phosphonate is a natural building block of bone matrix. FDA approved treatments for pain associated with cancer that has spread to the bone are based on this delivery system. The medical isotope Iodine has been used for thyroid treatment for years because the isotope itself is naturally attracted to the thyroid.
This week's series of closures set up a "perfect storm in isotope availability," the effects of which have been felt with U.S hospital shortages, and could reach Europe next week, said Robert Atcher, president of the U.S.-based Society of Nuclear Medicine, on Wednesday.
winnipegsun.com - Canada News - Isotope supply squeeze
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