Patients with MS receive, on average, more than 60 doses of gadolinium-based contrast agents during their lifetime. Given the recent concerns about the retention of gadolinium in the brain and other organs, the Department of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania studied a new protocol, hoping to limit its use. A total of 153 patients were studied over 2 months with the new protocol that did not utilize gadolinium. The images were found to be 94.8% accurate, 80% sensitive and 97% specific.

The investigators reported that the protocol “resulted in a drastic reduction in contrast use, whereby only 13.1% of patients received contrast, helping mitigate concerns regarding the negative effects of gadolinium deposition or other risks related to IV contrast”.

The new protocol also resulted in “significant savings in terms of the costs to the health care system related to the contrast agent itself, time to administer contrast, and time for image generation and interpretation”.

To read the full paper:  https://www.jacr.org/article/S1546-1440(19)30425-9/fulltext

Please join the growing list of advocates and sign our petition so we can help promote the development of safer alternatives and effective treatments to remove gadolinium from patients affected by it.