Nuclear medicine centers get boost

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Science and Technology’s Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) will soon make it easier for hospitals to maintain their nuclear medicine centers.

Dr. Alumanda dela Rosa, PNRI executive director, said that the agency has set up its Technetium 99m generator facility that allows local production of molybdenum 99.

Molybdenum-99 is required for technetium-99m radioactive pharmaceuticals where radioisotopes are used for nuclear imaging and scanning of the body’s skeletal and central nervous systems, including the bone marrow. This consequently diagnoses and even treats various diseases.

“In nuclear medicine, they use technetium- 99m as a tracer. It is a tracer that can go through the body without changing the processes in the body,” Dela Rosa said.

“But it will tell the doctor if there is a blockage in the heart, or if there’s a mass in the liver or in the lungs,” she explained. “This is a routine procedure in hospital.”

Dela Rosa said there are now 35 hospitals that have nuclear medicine centers.

The PNRI’s Technetium-99 generator facility, she said, hopes to serve these nuclear medicine centers, some of which are outside Metro Manila.

Dela Rosa said nuclear medicine was one of the non-power uses of nuclear science that has been widely accepted for its tremendous benefits.

“There is wide acceptance of nuclear medicine to treat cancer and to diagnose diseases, not only cancer, but diseases of the heart, the lungs, the kidneys, all of our internal organs,” Dela Rosa said.

“Other than updating our regulations for nuclear power, all our efforts are concentrated on non-power applications (of nuclear science). These are on agriculture, health, environment and industry,” she said.