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Gadolinium Toxicity – Is it a real thing?
If you have developed unexplained and troubling symptoms since your MRI or MRA with a Gadolinium-based Contrast Agent, then you will understand why we think that Gadolinium Toxicity is a medical condition that needs to be recognized. It is a problem that is long overdue for recognition by the FDA and the medical community. There is mounting evidence in the published literature that indicates that patients with normal kidney function retain Gadolinium which is known to be toxic to the human body.
Some people develop symptoms after just one dose of contrast, while others will have several MRIs with contrast before they realize their unexplained symptoms began soon after their exposure to a Gadolinium-based Contrast Agent or GBCA. (more…)
Confirmation of Gadolinium Retention from as far back as 1989
While most of the published research on Gadolinium has been related to NSF (Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis) and patients with severe renal disease, more recent studies by Errante (2014), Kanda (2013) and Xia (2010) have presented evidence of Gadolinium retention in patients without severe kidney problems.
Some authors and members of the radiology community seem to be surprised by finding evidence of Gadolinium in abnormal brain tissue in patients with normal renal function, but based on what has been published about Gadolinium-Based Contrast Agents, it seems that this might be expected to occur. Each of the manufacturers’ package inserts notes that GBCAs deposit in abnormal tissue, and none of the literature that I have read indicates that renal function plays any part in Gadolinium enhancement of abnormal tissue. (more…)
Gadolinium-Associated Plaques (GAP) in a patient without renal disease.
On November 12, 2014, an article was published online about a new condition called Gadolinium-Associated Plaques or GAP. The JAMA Dermatology article by Gathings, Reddy, Santa Cruz, and Brodell is titled, “Case Report/Case Series, Gadolinium-Associated Plaques – A New, Distinctive Clinical Entity”. The full-article is not freely available online at this time; however, the abstract can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamadermatol.2014.2660.
While this case series reports on only 2 patients, its findings are especially significant for patients with normal renal (kidney) function. Both patients had erythematous plaques which were determined to be sclerotic bodies in various stages of calcification. Previously these sclerotic bodies were thought to be associated with NSF (Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis) in patients with chronic renal disease after exposure to a Gadolinium-based Contrast Agent (GBCA). The significance of this case series is that neither patient had NSF; while one patient did have renal disease, the other patient did not. (more…)
Is history repeating itself? Are Gadolinium-Based Contrast Agents the next Thorotrast?
While doing research in early 2012, I came across a 2007 article written by J.F.M. Wetzels of The Netherlands that really caused me to pause and think about the problems associated with Gadolinium-Based Contrast Agents. The title was “Thorotrast toxicity: the safety of Gadolinium compounds”. Thorotrast was a radiocontrast agent used from 1930 to 1960. It wasn’t until the late 1940’s that the first “Thorotrast-related malignancies” were described in the literature and the problem came to light.
Thorotrast particles had been deposited in cells in the liver, spleen, bone marrow, and lymph nodes where they stayed and continually exposed the surrounding tissue to radiation. The problems created by Thorotrast had such a long-latency period that malignancies might not show up for 45 years or more later.
Wetzels described what was happening with Gadolinium and NSF through 2006. He said that because Gadolinium is a toxic, heavy metal, “Gadolinium-Based Contrast Agents are all chelates, which must ensure that no free Gadolinium is present in the circulation”. Wetzels closed by saying, “we must keep in mind that toxic effects may occur less frequently, later, and only after repeated exposure in patients with less severe renal dysfunction”. When I read that, I thought of what might be happening to patients with normal renal function. (more…)
Gadolinium Toxicity 