MRI Scans Causing Nasty Material to Form Inside Body, Scientists Find

Scientists believe they may have found the reason why some patients get so sick from the contrast dye they're injected with before magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.

As a University of New Mexico (UNM) press release explains, researchers at the institution's medical school believe they've found a link between oxalic acid — a molecule found in foods as disparate as sweet potatoes, spinach, chocolate and almonds, as well as some Vitamin C supplements — and the toxic building of gadolinium, the heavy metal element used in contrast dyes that works with an MRI's magnetic field to help doctors see internal organs on scans.

While researchers have long known that patients sometimes have reactions to gadolinium dye, the link to foods rich in oxalic acid is new — and could, if further substantiated, help doctors and MRI technicians avoid adverse events big and small.

Though the vast majority of patients who are injected with the colorless, scentless liquid for MRIs, a 2016 study found that mild reactions — including swelling, itchiness, and headache — only affect up to 2.4 percent of the population. Severe reactions, which range from low blood sugar to convulsions, are even rarer.

Still, the adverse reactions that do occur sound pretty scary. Along with immediate and short-lived side effects like pain or itching at the injection site, nausea, and dizziness, more recent studies have demonstrated that nanoparticles from gadolinium dye can build up in the bodies and brains of patients who are injected with it.

Even more disturbingly, research from the past few decades — including by researchers at UNM — has linked this buildup to internal organ damage and systemic fibrosis, a painful condition that causes the skin to tighten and thicken at the joints.

According to Brent Wagner, a kidney specialist at the UNM Medical School's Department of Internal Medicine who has studied gadolinium side effects for years, a rare severe — or "nephrogenic" — case of systemic fibrosis can cause rapid deterioration and death, and it doesn't take much to get there for those most unfortunate souls who have bad reactions.

"The worst disease caused by MRI contrast agents is nephrogenic systemic fibrosis," Wagner, the coauthor of a new paper in the journal Magnetic Resonance Imaging, said in the school's press release. "People have succumbed after just a single dose."

As the press release notes, this new link offers an enigma wrapped in a conundrum as scientists try to figure out why and how gadolinium dye makes some patients sick — and why most others have little to no adverse reaction to the injections.

Examining past findings about oxalic acid molecules binding with calcium to create kidney stones, Wagner and his team found that the molecule, which is attracted to metal ions, also binds with gadolinium. In test tube experiments, the researchers found that gadolinium molecules seemed to leach out of the dye and bind to the oxalic acid molecules before, per their modeling, infiltrating cells and going into the organs.

While more research needs to be done to further establish this link, it's still a pretty huge find that could create some common-sense recommendations for people undergoing MRIs down the line.

"I wouldn't take vitamin C if I needed to have an MRI with contrast because of the reactivity of the metal," Wagner said. "I'm hoping that we're getting closer to some recommendations for helping these individuals."

More on weird reactions: Parents Followed RFK Jr’s Crackpot Advice and Had to Send Their Kids to the Hospital With Yellowed Skin

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