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Risk/benefit of gadolinium contrast for breast MRI.

It seems extremely risky to submit to injection of a heavy metal like gadolinium when breast pathology results are benign, yet discordant with radiology findings, and when breast vascularity can be due to a number of things, and that vascularity certainly varies L/R.

It seems that the chance of gadolinium causing celluar changes could be quite high?

Exactly how much difference would there be in terms of visualizing increased vascularization, which is why this MRI was ordered, if no contrast was used.

4 Responses
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1284144 tn?1292181757
No worries!  And in retrospect (?), my MRI found my abnormality and biopsy proved malignancy!!   Mammo and Ultrasound didn't see it.....
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492898 tn?1222243598
sorry, RTRM521, I meant to address healthcareguerilla in my above post. cheers, Katrin
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492898 tn?1222243598

   'It seems extremely risky to submit to injection of a heavy metal like gadolinium when breast pathology results are benign.....'

   But in retrospect, the MRI may well turn out to not be benign, and in that case, is the risk lower, and therefore justified?

I am not saying that MRI is always the best test, as it sometimes shows false positives, and in my case it shoed false negatives. (One day before my surgery, all my lymph nodes registered as benign under the MRI, and when the surgeon cut me open the following day, almost all of my lymph nodes were cancerous)

I should also mention that I do not feel entirely comfortable with MRI's either as I have had an allergic reaction to the gadolinium every single time, and the last two times was told to pre-medicate with Prednisone and Benadryl)

Katrin
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1284144 tn?1292181757
From what our radiologists tell us, an MRI of the breasts without the use of gadolinium yields very little information.  At our facility, all of our breast MRI's are done with the injection.  
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