Radiology, Vol 196, 439-443, Copyright © 1995 by Radiological Society of North America
Clinical safety of gadopentetate dimeglumine
KL Nelson, LM Gifford, C Lauber-Huber, CA Gross and TA Lasser
Department of Radiology, Omaha, NE 68105, USA.
PURPOSE: To quantify the rate of adverse reactions to gadopentetate
dimeglumine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging was
performed in 15,496 patients in April-September 1992. Data were collected
before and after intravenous administration of 0.1 mmol/kg gadopentetate
dimeglumine. RESULTS: Adverse reactions occurred in 2.4% (n = 372) of
patients. Symptoms abated the same or next day in 94.1% (n = 350). Whereas
onset occurred within 30 minutes after injection in 49.7% (n = 185), onset
occurred more than 1 hour after injection in 44.9% (n = 167). Two serious
adverse reactions occurred and were attributed to underlying disease. The
rate of adverse reaction was 3.7% in patients with a history of asthma (31
of 831 patients) or allergy (144 of 3,860 patients). Patients with previous
reactions to an MR imaging or iodinated contrast agent had an
adverse-reaction rate in this study of 21.3% (16 of 75) and 6.3% (54 of
857), respectively. The rate of adverse reaction was 2.2% when
gadopentetate dimeglumine was administered slowly and 2.9% when it was
administered rapidly. CONCLUSION: Findings confirm the safety of
gadopentetate dimeglumine.
