Technetium shortages loom, dynamics heat up in PET perfusion agents

Much is said about cardiac SPECT imaging programs becoming less reliable because of challenges in the global supply chain of Molybdenum-99, the parent nucleus of Technetium-99. Reinforcing the pessimistic outlook is the fact that a new shortage of Technetium-99, the main cardiac SPECT radiopharmaceutical, seems to be looming on the nuclear cardiology marketplace, similar to the last major one from 2009-2010.

The planned shutdown on March 31, 2018 of the NRU nuclear reactor of Chalk River in Canada – anecdotally the world’s longest-operating, with 60 years in the running – is reviving worries of market unavailability and price volatility of these agents, and steering some cardiac SPECT providers to take a closer look, again, at cardiac PET for myocardial perfusion imaging procedures. Read more.