Gadolinium in MRI - is it dangerous for us?

The blood-retinal barrier (blood-ocular barrier) is a barrier that is essential for us in order for the vision process to be normal. The reason for its existence is the need for the retina of the eye to be completely separated from the blood fluids in order to prevent the infiltration of substances or immune cells that could harm the function of the eye.

A recent study, published on February 7, 2018 in the journal Neurology, found that there was leakage of gadolinium beyond this barrier in 75% of subjects (as demonstrated in the follow-up examination 24 hours after the gadolinium injection in the initial MRI scan). This unexpected finding caused the researchers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the main government agency in the United States responsible for biomedical research, to issue an order to conduct further studies on the matter.

During the study, the researchers, led by Emi Hitomi, reviewed approximately 167 hospitalized patients with stroke who, upon arrival at the hospital, underwent a brain MRI scan for the purposes of the study (it should be noted that the sensitivity of a brain MRI scan is good to the naked eye in detecting an ischemic stroke, but the initial test performed In such cases, the CT test has a sensitivity of only 16% in diagnosing an ischemic stroke, and this is because the CT has a sensitivity of about 90% in ruling out bleeding, meaning in ruling out a hemorrhagic stroke - A.B.H. After about two hours and then after 24 hours, another scan called FLAIR (fluid-attenuated inversion recovery) was performed on the same subjects, a scan which, among other things, detects a water signal. The findings showed that even after 24 hours, 75% of the subjects demonstrated the gadolinium leakage in at least one eye.

The researchers stated in the study that the cause of this leakage is not yet clear, but could be related to a remote effect of the brain injury which affected the blood-retinal barrier. This study links gadolinium infiltration into the structures of the eye and an acute brain infarction, although it is important to note that there are not necessarily markers that this infiltration constitutes a type of medical problem and more research is needed on the matter.

Link to the article - neurology journal

Is gadolinium in MRI dangerous for us? - The Israeli MRI portal

 

One response

  1. Ofer Shalom,
    Can I have your mobile number to contact me by phone?

    Thanks,
    Ronnie Simon

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