Renal effects of gadopentetate dimeglumine in patients with normal and impaired renal function.

Gadolinium chelates are widely used in magnetic resonance imaging as contrast medium in patients with nephropathy. However, only few studies have investigated the effect of gadolinium on serum creatinine concentration and estimated GFR as surrogate markers of renal function. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of gadopentetate dimeglumine in a dose sufficient for diagnostic and interventional purposes on renal function in a large sample of patients. We analyzed serum creatinine and serum-urea levels before and after the administration of gadopentetate dimeglumine in patients with normal and patients with pre-existing impaired renal function. Age, height, body mass, sex, medication and preexisting illnesses such as diabetes, renal artery stenosis and heart disease were monitored. In 181 patients with normal renal function, there was no statistically significant change in serum creatinine concentration after the administration of gadopentetate dimeglumine (at baseline: 0.72 +/- 0.18 mg/dl, after gadolinium: 0.73 +/- 0.22 mg/dl). In contrary, serum creatinine levels decreased significantly after the administration of gadolinium in 198 patients with pre-existing renal impairment (1.82 +/- 1.03 mg/dl before and 1.72 +/- 1.03 mg/dl after gadolinium) (p < 0.01). According to this surrogate marker of renal function, the change of estimated GFR in patients with normal baseline renal function was not significant, while in patients with impaired renal function, GFR increased after the administration of gadolinium (p < 0.001). The high diagnostic value of gadolinium contrast media is associated with a very small risk of adverse reactions. Our findings show that the administration of gadolinium even is associated with a decrease of serum creatinine in patients with pre-existing renal impairment. In conclusion, the use of gadolinium-based contrast media may be considered as a safe alternative in patients with impaired renal function for whom use of iodine-based contrast agents is prone to a high rate of radiocontrast-induced nephropathy.