The shortage of iodinated contrast media (ICM) due to a General Electric (GE) manufacturing shutdown in Shanghai, China, is having profound effects on radiology practices globally.
As previously reported by Medscape Medical News, shortages of contrast media for CT imaging have been brought on by recent COVID-19 lockdowns in China. These shortages are expected to last until at least the end of June 2022. Most of the world's supply of contrast media is manufactured at a single Shanghai facility. The media are subsequently distributed by GE Healthcare.
"It is a very big deal at my hospital, and we are in emergency mode," said Justin M. Finn, MD, a diagnostic and interventional radiologist at Flagler Hospital, St Augustine, Florida. "Everything I do involves contrast."
Dealing with the shortage has involved making decisions as to how to conserve supplies while still providing patients with optimal care. For example, Finn explained that for diagnostic procedures, they've tried to perform as many evaluations as possible using modalities that do not require contrast media, rather than ones that do. "We are in line with the recommended substitutions, such as instead of brain CTAs, we will try to get brain MRAs," he told Medscape Medical News
