Gadolinium MRI contrast not needed to evaluate pediatric tumors

There is no need to use gadolinium-based contrast agents with MRI scans to...Read more on AuntMinnie.comRelated Reading: 3T MRI could become routine for fetal anomalies PET/MRI can be a boon for pediatric cancer patients FDA eyes risks of gadolinium contrast brain deposits SNMMI: FDOPA-PET/MRI monitors pediatric brain tumors Gadolinium contrast retention raises new safety questionsComments: 1/13/2016 7:15:20 PMDrummer Do studies like this kind of make the scientist in you cringe a little bit?   I mean, I'm sure the authors didn't come out and say you don't need Gd for any tumor imaging in children.  But to base this kind of conclusion on a retrospective study that included contrast imaging is very questionable (bias).  To draw conclusions from a sample size of about 100 kids across who knows how many tumor types seems sensationalistic. Did they specifically confirm this for, say, pediatric clival chordomas?   Sure we should be judicious and perhaps switch to highly bound forms of Gd contrast in order to reduce any possible downstream deposition issues.  And certainly DWI and other noncontrast techniques are great.  But science needs to be a little more rigorous before drawing such sweeping conclusions.  How about proving it for a single tumor type in a prospective manner where you don't have the bias of knowing there is already a tumor.   I freely admit I haven't read the original study.  But... n=100 acros...
Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - Category: Radiology Source Type: news