Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Just as the worldwide shortage of a radioactive isotope used in millions of medical procedures is about to get worse, officials say a new source for the substance has emerged: a nuclear reactor in Poland. The isotope, technetium 99, is used to measure blood flow in the heart and to help diagnose bone and breast cancers. Almost two-thirds of the world’s supply comes from two reactors; one, in Ontario, has been shut for repairs for nine months and is not expected to reopen before April, and the other, in the Netherlands, will close for six months starting Friday....

AP Science Writer Thousands of patients are facing delays in crucial medical tests because of a shortage of a radioactive substance used in those examinations - all because of the shutdown of one nuclear reactor in Canada. The substance is used in at least 15 million medical scans a year in the United States, by one estimate. Those scans are used to diagnose and assess a wide variety of conditions including cancer, heart disease and bone or kidney illnesses. They are often crucial for guiding therapy, telling a doctor whether a woman's breast cancer has invaded her bones, for example....