What is medical isotopes?

New Delhi, May 16: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing the 4th tranche of the economic stimulus package on Saturday, said that the government will establish a research reactor in PPP mode for production of medical isotopes, which will promote the welfare of humanity through affordable treatment for cancer and other diseases.

This will produce medical isotopes and make available affordable treatment for cancer and other diseases, she said unveiling the fourth tranche of the economic stimulus package.

So, what is medical isotopes?

A medical isotope is an isotope used in medicine.

The first uses of isotopes in medicine were in radiopharmaceuticals, and this is still the most common use. However more recently, separated stable isotopes have also come into use.

Radiopharmaceuticals are medicines containing small amounts of radioactive isotopes used for the diagnosis and management of some cancers and other chronic diseases.

Radioisotopes including molybdenum-99 - the short-lived isotope used in hospitals to produce the even-shorter-lived technetium-99m which is the world's most widely used medical radioisotope - are produced in a limited number of research reactors then transported to other countries, mainly by air.

Examples of non-radioactive medical isotopes are:

Deuterium in deuterated drugs
Carbon-13 used in liver function and metabolic tests