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Published online 29 August 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.1072

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Isotope shortage could delay cancer treatments

Reactor shut downs mean patients will go without diagnostic imaging.

Amber Dance

Technical glitches at a Dutch nuclear reactor that produces medical isotopes could lead to rationing of medical tests and treatments across Europe. The High Flux Reactor in Petten is the world's second-largest manufacturer of medical isotopes, and has been offline since last week.

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  • What's the lesson learned by reading the statement "The unexpected dip in supply has already led to reduced shipments of medical isotopes to some hospitals, and doctors fear that the situation will worsen because the reactor is expected to be out of commission for up to a month"? Clearly, in a technologically advanced world, "famous", Laboratory-Dependent Physicians are not able to recognize Inherited Oncological Real Risk and overt cancer, even in intitial stage! Nobody can unfortunately falsify it, in spite of the fact that a lot of peer-reviewes are trying to spread among physicians of the world outstanding advances in oncology realized in CLINICAL Medicine: with the aid of a "trivial" stethoscope, doctors can recognize in a quantitative way both Oncological Terrain AND Inhrited Oncological Real Risk, located in a well site of a biological system. For instance, See: http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2008/07/newsweak_darwin_vs_lincoln.html#comments http://blogs.nature.com/nm/spoonful/2008/07/product_placement.html#comments http://network.nature.com/forums/askthenatureeditor/1846?page=1#reply-5181 ; http://blogs.nature.com/nm/spoonful/2008/05/our_new_columns_narrowing_the.html#comments , and specially http://blogs.nature.com/nm/spoonful/2008/04/stress_as_a_therapy_1.html#comments http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2008/07/new_drug_for_prostate_cancer_e.html#comments http://blogs.nature.com/nature/journalclub/2008/02/nicholas_katsanis.html#comments http://blogs.nature.com/nm/spoonful/2008/08/the_best_defense_against_biowa.html#comments http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2008/08/bush_going_green_in_the_deep_b.html#comments http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080828/full/news.2008.1068.html?q=2#last-comment

    • 30 Aug, 2008
    • Posted by: Sergio Stagnaro