The global shortage of molybdenum-99 is significantly affecting nuclear medicine physicians and nuclear pharmacies, with many imaging tests being postponed, according to results of a survey released this week by SNM of Reston, VA.
SNM commissioned the survey to assess the impact of the molybdenum-99 shortage, which was triggered by the shutdown of a Canadian nuclear reactor that supplies most of North America. Molybdenum-99 is the precursor to technetium-99m, a widely used radiopharmaceutical.
In the SNM survey, 75% of nuclear medicine physicians said they are rescheduling patient tests by at least one day, and in more than one-third of these cases, nuclear studies have been delayed by more than a month. In addition, 80% of nuclear medicine physicians and specialists said they are decreasing the dose of technetium-99m, which can lead to longer exposure and less effective imaging studies, according to Robert Atcher, Ph.D., chair of SNM's Domestic Isotope Availability Task Force.
What's more, 60% of radiopharmacies said they've been affected by the shortage. SNM said the crisis indicates that governments should work together to prevent such shortages from happening again and to make available existing agents that are more effective than technetium-99m.
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