There have been some reports of skin and other tissues thickening in patients with normal kidney function and no NSF, and the agency advised that it is “continuing to evaluate such reports to determine if these fibrotic reactions are an adverse health effect of retained gadolinium.”

A study reported by HCB News in December, 2016, found that the brain deposits were lower with macrocyclic agents.


Researchers at the NeuroCure Clinical Research Center and Department of Radiology of Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, looked at the issue in multiple sclerosis patients. According to author, Dr. Michael Scheel, they found that patients who received macrocyclic gadolinium-based contrast agents showed no evidence of gadolinium brain deposition.

The researchers noted that "available data currently suggest that the risk of deposits is considerably higher with contrast agents that have a linear molecular structure. This effect appears to be absent, or much reduced, when using contrast agents with a ring-shaped, macrocyclic structure."

Previous research had revealed that the rare-earth-based contrast agent deposits are “permanent,” stated the researchers.

The last ten years has seen gadolinium's reputation as “one of the safest drugs there was” come into question, Dr. Emanuel Kanal, a professor of radiology and the director of MR services at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, told HCB News in March, 2016.

In 2013 came the first reports of its accumulation in the brain. “No one told us it would stay in the body,” said Kanal at the time. “They told us it had a half-life of 90 to 120 minutes and after 6 or 9 hours most of it is gone, and we assumed that after a day or two there’s no trace left.”

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