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Radioisotopes: The medical testing crisis

Nature volume 504, pages 202–204 (2013)Cite this article

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With a serious shortage of medical isotopes looming, innovative companies are exploring ways to make them without nuclear reactors.

In 2009, two nuclear research reactors shut down for repairs and maintenance. This was not surprising, given that both were around half a century old. But these reactors happened to produce most of the world's supply of the radioactive tracer technetium-99m, an isotope injected into patients in 70,000 diagnostic scans a day. Hospitals around the world went into a panic.

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  1. Richard Van Noorden
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Souped-up cyclotrons offer isotope remedy 2012-Feb-21

Medical isotope supplies dwindle 2010-Feb-12

Medical isotope shortage reaches crisis level 2009-Jul-15

Researchers urge action on medical-isotope shortage 2009-Jun-24

Accelerating production of medical isotopes 2009-Jan-28

Blog post: Canadian accelerator produces a city's-worth of medical isotopes overnight

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Van Noorden, R. Radioisotopes: The medical testing crisis. Nature 504, 202–204 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/504202a

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