12 Dec (NucNet): A short-term shortage of isotopes for nuclear medicine is becoming a “chronic disease”, with the next production shortfall expected between now and the middle of January 2009.
The Vienna-based European Association for Nuclear Medicine (EANM) said on 2 December 2008 that the complex supply chain for the isotope Molybdenum-99, from which Technetium-99m is produced, “is very fragile and vulnerable at several points”. Technetium-99m is the most widely used radioisotope used in diagnostic nuclear medicine.
EANM said some short term solutions were implemented in the autumn, but a further shortage of Molybdenum-99 struck Europe in the middle of October.
The association has renewed calls for a “strategic partnership” to be established to find long-term solutions to guarantee supplies. “All relevant stakeholders such as the EU member states, the European Commission, producers, suppliers and users of nuclear substances for medical applications should be brought together to discuss solutions for the future,” EANM said.
Shortages of medical isotopes have arisen as a result of a combination of events at European facilities, including the unplanned outage of the Petten high-flux research reactor (HFR) in the Netherlands. The HFR is now scheduled to restart in February 2009.
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
Ministers Urged To Tackle Shortfall In European Nuclear Medicine Supplies (News No. 72, 9 September 2008)
Petten High-Flux Reactor Scheduled To Restart In February 2009 (News No. 77, 15 October 2008)
