Emanuel Kanal
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, USA
Title: Intracranial gadolinium accumulation
Biography
Biography: Emanuel Kanal
Abstract
During the past 2 years it has been discovered that gadolinium was being retained or accumulated in several locations within the brain parenchyma, most notably in the dentate nuclei, in patients who had undergone repeated prior contrast enhanced MRI examinations with at least some of the gadolinium-based contract agents in use today. This was the found to be the case even in patients with normal renal function. The fact that this occurred caught the medical community off guard; the fact that intracranial gadolinium accumulation was confirmed following the administration of gadolinium-based contrast agents designed NOT to cross the intact blood brain barrier was even more surprising. The purpose of this presentation is to summarize what is - and is not - known about intracranial gadolinium accumulation and how it varies among the different contrast agents in use today. We will also compare these findings to that which is known about nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, a disease that seems to only exist in patients with poor renal function who underwent gadolinium-enhanced MR examinations with at least some of the gadolinium-based contrast agents in use today. Finally, we will demonstrate how medical usage of gadolinium based contrast agents is now affecting the levels of gadolinium exposure to humans throughout society - even if they have not undergone diagnostic contrast enhanced MRI examinations.