MRI Contrast Agent Causes Harmful Metal Buildup in Some Patients [study]
23 comments
·October 24, 2025bonsai_spool
This is a poor explanation of an older publication, when the actual new work has a good description:
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/toxicology/articles/10....
gclawes
Every time I've gotten an MRI the doctors and techs have sworn up and down it's impossible for this stuff to stick around. Getting tired of not being able to believe what doctors say...
drum55
That's surprising, it's at least casually known that they're bio accumulative to some extent. I've joked to the techs before about gadolinium eventually accumulating enough to not be necessary if you do it with enough frequency. Realistically though any situation that you're doing the contrast you're probably at a lot more risk of whatever they've found than from the contrast agent.
smeej
I had to have contrast to diagnose a simple cyst, which is entirely asymptomatic and was discovered by accident in the background of a cardiac MRI (family history of SCD, but my own heart is fine).
You're making me feel lucky about what was otherwise a very unpleasant experience!
bamboozled
The other day I had to get a CT scan, I was kind of annoyed I wasn't offered and MRI, and here we are.
I hold a different opinion to you though, I'm glad doctors are always learning more while generally operating with good /extremely good intentions.
byryan
Really wish more people had that mind set. Practicing medicine isn't easy, especially in the US when you have to battle the insane insurance industry.
torstenvl
Except that a disturbing number of doctors insist that they are always right and you are always wrong.
A year ago, one insisted vehemently—to the point of yelling—that I shouldn't be supplementing Vitamin K because my potassium levels were fine.
margalabargala
> I hold a different opinion to you though, I'm glad doctors are always learning more while generally operating with good /extremely good intentions.
I agree. Expecting perfection from humans, even experts, is not reasonable and is frankly counterproductive.
Willful ignorance is one thing, but people who genuinely attempt to do the right thing at worst just need to be steered slightly differently.
zoeysmithe
The data until recently suggested that, so thats the risk you take. Would you rather be living in ancient greece and shoved full of hemlock leaves for arthritis? Or have a 19th century surgeon remove your appendix?
There's risk in life and odds-wise if you're in the developed West, you're going to get care and medicine that will greatly prolong your life.
Also this paper is super vague. What percent of people even get this? How long does it last? They havent even done a study to see how long it lasts yet. I have a feeling this isnt going to be our generation's asbestos or thalidomide.
That being said, you should decide your own risk profile. If MRI gives you concerns there are alternatives that dont involve contrast.
appreciatorBus
No one is asking to go back to Ancient Greece.
But given our track record, a little humility would go along way.
When a highly educated doctor tells you that something is safe, a person is going to assume that means that someone somewhere has proven that the substance is safe. If what they really mean is that no one really knows, but so far, no experiments have been able to prove danger, then we should say that instead.
bawolff
By that definition, nobody knows anything is safe.
hammock
They said the same thing about mRNA vaccines staying at the injection site and degrading quickly. https://x.com/Inversionism/status/1690043574644092940
I know my doctors are good people. I just can’t understand how this happens.
javascriptfan69
Is this a study in rats? Is there any data beyond 48 hours?
The concentrations outside of the injection site are vanishingly small. And I would consider 48 hours to be pretty quick. If it was still around after a week I would be concerned. Not really sure what I'm supposed to take away from this.
hereme888
You know what other metal stays in the body, permanently bound to bone and other organs? Bismuth, as in bismuth salycilate, aka Peptobismol. A tiny % actually stays in your body.
DennisP
Does that cause any symptoms? Because apparently this can, and they tell you how to avoid it.
> Lead author Dr Brent Wagner told Newsweek he personally avoids vitamin C when undergoing MRI with contrast, citing its potential to increase gadolinium reactivity. “Metabolic milieu,” including high oxalic acid levels, could explain why some individuals experience severe symptoms while others do not, he said.
Avoiding high-oxalic foods for a few days before the MRI also seems like a good idea. Just check the diet for calcium oxalate kidney stones.
ToDougie
Can you please share more?
shakna
Or to not click through multiple layers of clickbait: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mri.2025.110383
Unfortunately, the article isn't much better. It has as an underpinning, a corrected paper: https://doi.org/10.1093/ndt/gfl294
unsupp0rted
Nobody told me gadolinium can be retained before I had it the first couple times.
Like somebody else mentioned, they swore up and down it's perfectly safe.
anon291
The link between NSF and gadolinium-based agents has been known for almost two decades and is common knowledge in the industry.
Neywiny
Yes. The problem is that it's common in the industry. But it's ultimately up to the patient. Maybe alone. Pretty much guaranteed scared. Undereducated, worrying about their likely life threatening potential illness or injury. That's basically under duress.
bawolff
What are you proposing instead? Should patients just die of their illness instead?
Medical procedures have risk, some are small risk some are higher risk. There are none that are 100% safe. Doctors are supposed to evaluate if the risk is worth the value the procedure would supply.
What is the alternative to the status quo that you would propose?
Neywiny
There's a big difference between not getting the MRI and getting the MRI without gadolinium. My suggestion is to ensure that people know the risks outside of just the people who work in it. I'm not sure how that didn't get across in my original comment. With your comprehension skills, you are at an increased risk of falling victim to this exact scenario
This is very interesting to see on here. My mother was the dissenting vote on an FDA panel on this. There are articles about it. I'll copy her words (as reported by something but seems legit)
> She said that the FDA's plan doesn't go far enough.
> "It's hard to dismiss an anecdotal report when you are the anecdote. When a patient is finally tested and found to have gadolinium retention, there's no FDA-approved antidote. So what does the patient do?"
And I want to reiterate that she was "the" no not "a" no. I don't know if her vote alone is what's caused more research into this. But it's probably the thing I brag about her the most. Even though everybody else said it was fine or abstained, she stood strong. If you look up the articles from the time of the panel (2017) you'll see a lot of articles about this panel and how she was the sole no vote. Included in that was a public post from Chuck Norris praising her. He was going to come out to meet us but I think it was a bad Texas hurricane season so that fell through