On this Friday’s Inside Look By Brooks, Steve Brooks discusses the MRI contrast agent called Gadolinium. What is it, what are the risks, and what can you do about it?

Transcript:

Good afternoon, Steve Brooks here with Friday’s Inside Look By Brooks. Welcome! I was at a conference last week with a few of my attorney friends and we were sharing ideas, and honestly, I completely forgot about Facebook Live. So, normally, even if I’m at a remote location, I try to stick with my 3 o’clock Friday afternoon show.

We’re going to get back on track this week and the topic is a heavy metal called gadolinium. If you’ve ever had an MRI, chances are that you’ve had this heavy metal injected into your body. One out of three MRIs, they use gadolinium. Gadolinium is a metal, it’s a contrast agent that the MRI facilities will inject in you to give a better image for the MRI.

So what we are finding is there are two types of contrast agents. There is the type called linear and then there is the type called macrocyclic. We have found that there are lots of reports and studies that have shown that linear tends to be the more dangerous, and it’s thought that it, in many cases, will, because it’s a heavy metal, will stay in your body and even deposit into your brain tissue.

So it’s been known to create many problems. Some of the problems include: brain fog, joint pain, memory loss, sharp cutting or burning pain, muscle twitches and weakness, and cognitive impairment. And for patients who have low functioning kidneys or have kidney problems, there’s been a very serious side effect or result of the use of gadolinium, in that some of these patients have resulted in having something called nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. And this is a real thickening of the skin around joints and it becomes very painful, and in some cases it has even put people in wheelchairs because they can’t move and walk and ambulate.

So, I think back in 2017, the European Union took part of the contrast agents off the market. The linear has been shown to be the more dangerous, so a lot of the MRI facilities in the United States have kind of backed off using linear and are just using the macrocyclic. The macrocyclic seems to be a safer alternative if you are required to have a contrast agent with an MRI.

So, I tell you all this to say that we, Brooks Law Group, are looking into these type of cases. We may be taking some gadolinium cases. We are studying it, I wanted to put it out there. It’s kind of a new phenomena. Europe usually acts before our FDA does, and so our FDA is slower to act and I think, based on what we’ve learned from Europe, that a lot of the MRI facilities in the United States have stopped using linear.

But if you’ve had an MRI with contrast, and you’ve experienced any of these symptoms that I talked about, please feel free to contact me at -email in video- or give me a call. I’d be glad to discuss it with you. So again, send me any questions you have. Other than that, I’ll look forward to seeing you next Friday at 3 o’clock for Friday’s Inside Look By Brooks. Thank you!

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Stephen K. Brooks
Author: Stephen K. Brooks

Steve was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. As was the practice for new doctors his father worked day and night during his medical residency at Charity Hospital there. Steve comes from a long line of doctors. His father, his grandfather, his great grandfather, even two uncles were all specialists and/or surgeons in their chosen medical specialties, including internal medicine specialist, obstetrics / gynecology, neurosurgery and general practice / surgery. His great-great grandfather was the Surgeon General of Ohio during the Civil War.