Gadopentetate dimeglumine

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Gadopentetate dimeglumine (Gd-DTPA) or Magnevist was the first paramagnetic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent. First described in 1981, and introduced in 1988, it is used to assist imaging of blood vessels and of inflamed or diseased tissue where the blood vessels become 'leaky'. It is often used when viewing intracranial lesions with abnormal vascularity or abnormalities in the blood-brain barrier. It is usually injected intravenously. Gd-DTPA is a gadolinium complex of diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid and is classed as an acyclic, ionic gadolinium contrast medium. Its paramagnetic property reduces the T1 relaxation time (and to some extent the T2 and T2* relaxation times) in NMR, which is the source of its clinical utility.

Marketed as Magnevist by Bayer-Schering and its subsidiary company Berlex Laboratories, it was the first intravenous contrast agent to become available for clinical use, and is in widespread use around the world.

Gadolinium based agents may cause a toxic reaction known as Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF) in patients with severe kidney problems.^[1]^[2]

[edit] References

^ Murphy KJ, Brunberg JA, Cohan RH (1996). "Adverse reactions to gadolinium contrast media: a review of 36 cases". American Journal of Roentgenology 167: 847-849.
^ H.S. Thomsen, S.K. Morcos and P. Dawson (Nov 2006). "Is there a causal relation between the administration of gadolinium-based contrast media and the development of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF)?". Clinical Radiology 61 (11): 905-906.