Breast MRI contrast

Posted by carolina8 @carolina8, Feb 8, 2023

I am confused about the contrast used in MRI for breast screening. I know there is uncertainty about whether it damages the brain and stays in muscles. Some articles mention ongoing studies that are trying to find out more about these things. My question is what do they know for sure . And does anyone know if researchers have been studying this for a long time since they have been using this contrast for a long time.

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Chris, Volunteer Mentor | @auntieoakley | Feb 9, 2023

I would be asking these questions of the radiologist. Since they have more and more contrasts and know more about them all the time. Truthfully, there is some risk for most things in life, the trick is finding out the risk and then deciding. For me, I have had one reaction to contrast, when I had a bad accident and they were scanning my whole spine and skull. This left me with half of my body in a giant angry rash. Checking for spinal breaks and skull fractures that could have resulted in much worse than a rash made that choice a no brainer for me. I know that some contrasts that have had problems are being used less.
Do you know what contrast is planned? Can you call and discuss this with your imaging center?

gpigford | @gpigford | Feb 9, 2023

So I am a xray/CT tech. NOT MRI but as you would expect those people are only 30 feet away. The contrast used for MRI is Gadolinium. Their are always reactions to anything injected. Many "reactions" to contract are not really reactions to the medicine but reaction to any materiel injected into your body. For example the flush feeling that you get. The could happen even if it was saline. So not really a reaction though average people say that. flashes, cold, burning are normal and not a reason to not use it. Like the other post said, the value that they add to the scan is much higher than the minor problems they may short time cause. what you have to worry about is the big ones. things like shortness of breath, sudden swelling, heart pumping unusually fast. these are "reactions" that you should bring to the attention of the technologist and need to be evaluated.
Long term affects? I dont know of any but like I said, I dont do MRI's. I do know we have people who have had hundreds of MRI and I never heard of concerns. I do know they try to put at least 24 hours between injections.