At least a month backlog of radioisotopes Western Health Region

It will take at least a month to clear up a backlog of specialized medical tests for western Newfoundland patients, officials said as a nuclear medicine department reopens.

The Western Health regional authority cancelled tests for 48 patients through Western Brook Memorial Hospital in Corner Brook after the Chalk River reactor shut down in November.

The supply of medical isotopes has been restored and officials were expecting to resume tests, including bone and heart scans, on Monday.

"It's wonderful," said Mike Brake, a nuclear medicine technologist who has worked at the Corner Brook hospital for three decades.

"This is the first incident in which we've had an interruption in service, so it's quite unusual for us, but we're so very happy to be back to normal."

Peter Dawe, executive director of the Canadian Cancer Society's Newfoundland and Labrador branch, said the reopening of the department will reduce anxiety for patients waiting for tests.

"It's very important news for people on the west coast, obviously, because you can't treat them and you're absolutely stuck until you get a proper diagnosis," Dawe said.

Western Health has already begun contacting patients to rebook cancelled appointments.

Source: CBC

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Breaking news: federal government to legislate temporary production of radio isotope at Chalk River

CTV reports that the federal government is set to introduce emergency legislation later today to compel the Chalk River nuclear reactor to restart for 120 days to allow the production of medical radioisotopes.

The National Research Universal (NRU) reactor in Chalk River, Ont., which is operated by Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. (AECL) was closed for repairs on Nov. 18.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has said several new safety standards must be met before the reactor can be reopened. The repairs have taken longer than expected, leading to radioisotope shortages throughout North America.

That has delayed diagnostic testing, therapies and surgeries tremendously.

More than two-thirds of the world's medical isotopes are produced at the publicly-owned reactor.

CTV reports further that if the legislation passes, the reactor will be allowed to re-open for three months to resume production of the radioisotopes.

CTV

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St. Joseph's Health Care to receive scarce medical isotope today

St. Joseph's Health Care has been promised a precious shipment of a scarce medical isotope to be received today.

The nuclear material will be used for breast cancer surgeries and bone scans for cancer.

"It's going to allow us to handle our most urgent patients," hospital spokesperson Betty Dann said last Thursday.

St. Joseph's, London Health Sciences Centre and hospitals across the region have been caught in the worldwide shortage of the medical isotope supplied from a reactor in Chalk River, ON.

The radioactive isotope is injected into a patient's vein and can be captured by a sophisticated camera.

(Read more here and here)

Hundreds of patients in the London area have had their cancer and cardiac tests rescheduled last week because the aging Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. reactor has been shut down longer than expected for maintenance.

"The partial isotope shipment expected on Monday, will allow St. Joseph's to scan eight patients," Dann said.

"If St. Joseph's patients haven't been notified their appointment has been changed, they should keep it," Dann said.

St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital usually does 10 to 15 tests a day with the isotope, plus emergency cases.

Last week, the hospital has been receiving enough for only two scans a day.

"We are able to do a dose for a patient that needs a lung scan and a dose for a patient that needs a cardiac scan each day," said Anita Grant, the hospital's director of patient care.

Meanwhile, the federal government is demanding the maker of the crucial isotopes sort out technical problems that have crippled production....................................

London Free Press

".......................................................To be continued"

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