The shortage of iodinated contrast media that has rattled U.S. radiology since early May didn’t come from nowhere.

Brian Ghoshhajra, MD, MBA, division chief, cardiovascular imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of radiology, Harvard Medical School, explains the impact of the iodine contrast shortage on computed tomography (CT) and cardiac imaging.
 

Production at the facility in Shanghai is expected to be near 100% starting on June 6.

The American College of Radiology (ACR) announced this week its government relations staff has been engaging federal agencies in an effort to improve product availability and hasten resolution of the ongoing iodine contrast shortage.

Alan Matsumoto, MD, chair of the department of radiology at the University of Virginia and vice chair of the ACR Board of Chancellors, explains how the ACR and group purchasing organizations are asking the FDA to mitigate the contrast shortage with an emergency use authorization to allow non-FDA cleared iodine contrast agents to be imported.

Eric Williamson, MD, president of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) and professor of radiology at Mayo Clinic, explains how the iodine contrast shortage is causing issues for cardiac CT imaging and ways this can be mitigated.

The Food & Drug Administration has drafted guidelines to help U.S. healthcare better prepare for and respond to events associated with these situations.

Gadolinium might be an alternative, stop-gap solution for interventional procedures during the current iodine contrast shortage.