Shortage of Barium affects medical imaging

I have just read this week that there is a shortage of Barium (actually Barite) which is affecting medical imaging. Barium is used in Gastro-Intestinal (GI) exams in X-ray imaging. The patients drinks a barium solution or the intestine is filled with a liquid containing Barium by the colon. Barium strongly attenuates X-rays and therefore, the GI is clearly seen in the image. The gif below shows a patient swallowing a Barium solution. Colonoscopy is a typical exam which used Barium (see image below). The Barium shortage has several reasons: increased demand, increased safety regulation in Chinese mines (largest supplier worldwide) and Barite world's supply is disappearing. An alternative is necessary as soon as possible or as I also read recently, we have to extract the barium again from the patient's feces... An excelent post about the topic was written here.

    

This shortage reminds me the helium shortage which is also affecting medical imaging.