Medical isotopes shortage likely to push up medical scan costs

A severe global shortage of medical isotopes is likely to push up costs of medicals scans in India. Medical isotopes are minute amounts of radioactive substances used in the diagnosis and treatment of a number of diseases.

According to reports confirmed by doctors, hospitals have been facing acute shortage of Technetium-99m the isotope most extensively used in scans of most body parts.

The shortage has resulted from the shut down of a nuclear reactor in eastern Ontario, Canada, that caters to a third of the global requirement. The development has triggered the crisis leading to the escalation in prices of Molybdenum 99 from which from which Technetium 99m is derived.

The shortage has also left the US medical fraternity concerned.

According to a report in the Baltimore Sun, the US supply of technetium has been low over the past 15 months, due to the temporary shut down of the Canadian reactor. Medical staff in US are therefore turning to alternative sources for the workhorse isotope, which at times is of lower quality at higher prices.

The report goes on to say that many medical operators in the field are calling for domestic production as well as also development of alternative technology. Meanwhile, the Ontario reactor though re-operationalised and back in production is aging and scheduled to be phased out in 2016.