Posts Tagged ‘ Gadolinium ’
NSF Registry Aims to Understand Disease
January 19th, 2010. By AbiK
When news first broke about the possible link between Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF) and gadolinium-based contrast agents used in MRIs, it was certainly alarming. But not much was known about it aside from the alleged correlation.
So after the first cases of NSF were identified, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) worked with doctors from the University of California in San Francisco to investigate the disorder. The work has since moved to Yale University where Dr. Shawn Cowper is in charge of confirming and investigating new cases of NSF.
The NSF Registry—the official project name for the work Dr. Cowper is heading up—aims to collect and organize information about NSF patients globally. The information is collected in order to help identify factors that may be related to or causative of NSF. Additionally, the NSF Registry will collect information on NSF treatments—successes and failures—in order to determine effective therapies and to help design future medication/therapy trials.
Anyone who has been afflicted with NSF or NFD should have their doctor contact Dr. Cowper at registermc@juno.com. For more information, visit the NSF Registry website: icnfdr.org.
In Canada, MRI scans cut…maybe there’s a bright side?
September 17th, 2009. By AbiK
The Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) has confirmed via Canwest News Service that it will cut MRI scans by 20%. That’s a staggering figure-think of it, one in five individuals who previously would have been sent for an MRI, won’t be. To anyone south of the Canadian border, it seems unconscionable. Of course, to anyone south of the border who has an HMO, well, they’re used to being told “no can do” or you need to pay through the roof-so not sure which scenario’s better.
But, regardless of any healthcare debates, you have to wonder whether the reduction in MRI scans will have any measurable impact on the amount of patients who innocently go for their MRI, only to be injected with a gadolinium contrast agent, only to learn later that they’ve got some serious kidney problems.
Gadolinium contrast has been linked to Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF) or Nephrogenic Fibrosing Dermopathy (NFD)-MRI health risks that are real and very serious.
Gadolinium—What is it Good For?
July 14th, 2009. By janem
Absolutely nothing, according to many people with some degree of renal failure who were injected with a contrast agent containing gadolinium during an MRI or MRA. These people got an MRI exam thinking that the results would help their condition. Instead, MRI health risks potentially outweigh the benefits if they were exposed to a gadolinium-based contrast dye.
Gadolinium is highly toxic. It is found in microwave ovens, color television tubes, computer memory and compact discs. Gadolinium is also used in nuclear marine propulsion as a burnable poison. Imagine putting that into your body: I thought Botox was bad enough!
And MRI health risks associated with gadolinium aren’t that rare. So far, more than 350 Nephrogenic Fibrosing Dermopathy lawsuits have been filed in the US, alleging that the manufacturers of the contrast agents (five of them) knew how potentially harmful the substances were long before letting the public know. Meanwhile, patients are still being exposed to the risk of NSF/NFD (Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis, also known as Nephrogenic Fibrosing Dermopathy).
New study on MRI & Gadolinium…but does it matter?
July 1st, 2009. By admin
The June issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology (as reported by docguide.com) has the results of a new study on MRI health risks–particularly those associated with gadolinium contrast. According to the docguide.com article,
“Even at very high doses, gadolinium-based contrast agents alone are not sufficient to cause nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) in patients with kidney problems,…”
That’s a statement that caught my eye given all the prior studies on the risks of gadolinium as an MRI contrast agent and its connection to Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF).
In the study, led by Dr. Mellena D. Bridges, of the Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida, records of 61 patients who received high-dose IV gadodiamide for catheter angiography or computed tomography (CT) between January 2002 and December 2005 were examined.
Tracking MRI Health Risk & Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis Discussions
June 26th, 2009. By AbiK
A quick and easy way to determine the popularity (for better or worse) of a given topic is to check out the top message boards for that topic. The Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis group on Yahoo is where I went to get a quick read on the growing discussion around MRI health risks relating to use of Gadolinium as a contrast agent.
A picture tells a thousand words and I’m better with visuals—so I took the comment tracker and turned it into a graph. Seems pretty staightforward. However, here are a few data points I found from the American Roentgen Ray Society (”first and oldest radiology society in the United States”). The ARRS issued a report back in October, 2008 that included a neat little chart: MR Contrast Agent an Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF) Timeline. Here, some highlights…
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