Molybdenum-99 isotopes are being harvested again at the Chalk River Laboratory in Canada ending a year-long shortage that has affected medical treatment worldwide.

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), which operates the nuclear reactor at Chalk River, announced on August 18, 2010 that the reactor is operating on high power and producing medical isotopes. Read the rest of this entry »

Research this week finds that people with severe cancer weight loss get less benefit from fentanyl pain patches and explores why people with Down Syndrome have less cancer.

In other headlines, shut-down of a Canadian nuclear reactor threatens the supply of medical isotopes used in many cancer tests.  Free drug samples may do more harm than good, and CT colonography finds cancers and other serious conditions outside the colon in about 2 or 3 out of 100 tests.  Finally, we provide a link to a Cancer.Net podcast with information about what to expect from your colonoscopy. Read the rest of this entry »