A shortage of medical isotopes has resulted in U.S. hospitals limiting or canceling diagnostic tests, reports Reuters. An aging Canadian nuclear reactor, which produces a third of the world’s medical isotopes, has been shut down for a leak and may be closed permanently.
The University of Southern California in Los Angeles and the University of Chicago Medical Center told Reuters that they have been forced to switch to more costly tests, such as positron emission tomography scans, which Medicare doesn’t cover, and to delay tests. The Society of Nuclear Medicine said 60 percent of its member hospitals are delaying procedures and 31 percent are canceling them as a result of the shortage.
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