Nov. 11, 2022 – Pennsylvania-based WellSpan Health is notifying patients that global medical radioisotope shortages will require patients to delay, reschedule, or pursue other imaging solutions.
On its website, the health system writes:
A critical world-wide shortage of the isotope media used primarily in imaging modalities will impact WellSpan Health patients who have scheduled outpatient nuclear medicine studies through the end of November.
Isotopes for nuclear medicine studies do not have a long shelf life and long-term supplies are not able to be maintained.
The isotope shortage is a result of unexpected downtime for the nuclear reactor that produces the isotope. The reactor is undergoing repairs and is anticipated to return to normal production around Nov. 22.
