At the meeting, 13 committee members voted in favor of the proposal. The strongest – and only – dissenting vote came from Alicia Toledano, who is president of Biostatistics Consulting in Kensington, MD. She felt it did not go far enough.

"It is hard to dismiss an anecdotal report when you are the anecdote. A life ruined is a life ruined," she said. "What does a patient do when doctors and everyone she or he turns to for help 'pooh-poohs' his or her concerns and does not order a simple urine test? When a patient finally gets tested and is found to have gadolinium retention, there is no FDA-approved antidote. What does that patient do?"


She called the proposal “insufficient.”

The group was also unanimous in its decision to have contrast manufacturers examine whether more regulation is needed.

"It's clear we need more information," stated Dr. Peter Herscovitch, acting MIDAC chair and director of the PET department at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).

In fact, gadolinium retention may be more widespread than previously thought. In June, a report published in "Radiology" by Dr. Robert J. McDonald evaluated postmortem neuronal tissue samples from 5 patients who had gotten four or more gadolinium-enhanced MR exams, and compared them with samples from 10 who had MR scans without the agent.

“Our results suggest current thinking with regard to the permeability of the blood-brain barrier is greatly oversimplified, as gadolinium appears to accumulate even among patients with normal brain tissue and no history of intracranial pathology,” McDonald said in a statement.

In March, the European Union's committee that weighs the risks of medicine advised suspending market authorization for some gadolinium agents. It said it had found evidence of brain deposits of the agent in “small amounts” after MR body scans “but no signs of harm.”

Chuck and Gena Norris declined to discuss the issue with HCB News.

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