Gadolinium-based contrast agents in children.

Gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) are widely used in medical imaging, with greater than 300 million doses administered since their introduction. The risk of adverse reactions is very low, and GBCAs were thought to be very safe until the discovery of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF). Since that time, gadolinium has been found to deposit throughout the body, including the brain, where it is visible on non-contrast T1-weighted MR images in people with normal renal function.

Use of gadolinium-based magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents and awareness of brain gadolinium deposition among pediatric providers in North America.

Background: Numerous recent articles have reported brain gadolinium deposition when using linear but not macrocyclic gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs).

Objective: To determine the current landscape of gadolinium use among pediatric institutions and the knowledge base of radiologists and referring providers with regard to GBCAs and brain gadolinium deposition.

Materials And Methods: We e-mailed voluntary closed surveys to 5,390 physicians in various pediatric professional societies between January 2016 and March 2016.

An investigation of diffusion imaging techniques in the evaluation of spinocerebellar ataxia and multisystem atrophy.

Multisystem system atrophy and spinocerebellar ataxia are rare neurodegenerative ataxias that can be difficult to diagnose, with important prognostic and treatment implications. The purpose of this study is to evaluate various methods of diffusion imaging and tractography in their effectiveness at differentiating these diseases from control subjects. Our secondary aim is determining whether diffusion abnormalities correspond with clinical disease severity.