Carol Forsloff - At a meeting of the American Chemical Society
scientists discussed an alarming new statistic, the shortage of
life-saving materials that could jeopardize patient care few know about.
Twenty million medical scans and treatments utilize radioactive isotopes.
Scientists this week declared there is a shortage of these minute
amounts of radioactive substances used to diagnose and treat a number of
different diseases.
As an example of the use of isotopes, scientists tell us
isotopes injected into the body allow doctors to look at blood flow,
kidney and brain disorders. Isotopes can also target cancer cells in a
way that minimizes damage to nearby healthy tissue.
Not
only does the shortage of isotopes impact medicine but also basic and
environmental research, oil exploration and nuclear proliferation,
scientists observe.
“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.”
Already
the shortage is forcing some doctors to reduce the number of imaging
procedures they order for patients, he added. Atcher directs the
National Isotope Development Center (NIDC), a U. S. Department of Energy
unit that is responsible for production of isotopes nationwide.
Isotopes
are critical to medical testing and care. Researchers tell us each day
more than 50,000 patients in the United States receive diagnostic and
therapeutic procedures using medical isotopes, used particularly in the
treatment of heart problems and cancer. Eight out of every 10
procedures require one specific isotope, technetium-99m, which has a
“half-life” of only six hours. Half-life is time it takes for 50 percent
of a given quantity of a radioactive substance to “decay” and
disappear. Thus, like other radioactive isotopes, technetium-99m can’t
be stockpiled. It must be constantly made fresh, and distributed quickly
to medical facilities.
Wolfgang
Runde, Ph.D., who works with Atcher at the Los Alamos National
Laboratory in New Mexico, said 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 this summer but
remained closed as of early August. The Chalk River facility produces 50
percent of the U.S. supply of the isotope used to make technetium-99m.
Production problems occurred at other isotope facilities, compounding
the problem. Remaining isotope suppliers have not been able to
compensate for this. That's why there is a short supply of isotope now.
“Shortage
of this key medical isotope makes it more difficult to carry out
important medical procedures, such as finding out whether cancer has
spread to the bones,” Atcher said. “Doctors have been trying everything
they can think of to meet the needs of patients, including the use of
other less-than-ideal isotopes, but it has been a real struggle.”
Atcher
also noted that the United States is highly dependent on foreign
suppliers of medical isotopes. Only about 10-15 percent of the isotopes
used in medicine are produced domestically. Just like the oil
industry, the United States needs to develop more domestic capability to
reduce the dependence on foreign suppliers Atcher maintains. That's
because, for example, Helium-3, a non-radioactive isotope with multiple
uses, is used to develop nuclear fusion reactors and monitoring
to prevent illegal nuclear material from being smuggled into the U.S.
Another, californium-252, which is used for oil exploration, to help
start-up nuclear power reactors, and in mass spectroscopy, a mainstay
analytical tool in chemistry, astronomy, and other fields of research.
“The
challenge we have is to produce enough materials to meet commercial
needs as well as needs of the research community — from nuclear physics,
to environmental research, to medical research — amid increasing
demands and fewer isotope sources” Atcher said. “The long-term solution
to this crisis remains to be seen.”
The
American Chemical Society is a non-profit organization chartered by the
U.S. Congress. With more than 161,000 members, ACS is the world’s
largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to
chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed
journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
