Researchers from the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have released a study showing that radiocontrast dyes used in medical diagnostic testing can cause loss of kidney function and increase the risk of death in patients.
The researchers studied data on more than 11,000 patients who had coronary angiography—a diagnostic procedure in which radiocontrast dye is injected into the patient’s blood vessels to cause the blood vessels to appear more discernible in X-ray images. Patients’ serum creatinine levels were recorded before and after the radiocontrast dye was injected into their blood vessels. Serum creatinine levels reflect the level of kidney function.
“The study found that even a small drop in kidney function after dye injection was linked with a significantly increased risk of death within the next 30 days. A 25 percent to 50 percent increase in serum creatinine levels in the days after dye injection was associated with a 39 percent increased risk of death.”
Doctors pay attention: don’t inject radiocontrast dye in your renal patients; you might kill them. This is especially frustrating because four years ago I had a procedure where radiocontrast dye was injected into my blood vessels in order to diagnose a problem with my fistula. I was wary at the time and asked a lot of questions but was assured the procedure was safe. Within months, I found a study by a single doctor in Macon, Georgia indicating that the use of radiocontrast media was ill-advised in renal patients. I brought this to my nephrologist’s attention, who was predictably dismissive. I was, after all, merely a patient.
Just as the internet is changing journalism forever, so is it changing every other profession, including medicine. Information that was gatekeepered in the past—like this study, for instance—is now readily available immediately upon release. Information float and publication cycles have been fully collapsed and we’re all better for it.
0 responses. Comments closed for this article.