A woman has filed a lawsuit against the makers of an MRI contrast dye because she says she continues to suffer from the effects of gadolinium exposure.

Plaintiff Linda M.’s lawsuit against the Bayer Corporation and the McKesson Corporation stems from her injection of Magnevist, a gadolinium-based contrast agent she received via injection prior to an MRI.

Gadolinium is a heavy metal, a metallic dye that helps doctors discern abnormalities in blood vessels and organs by sharpening the images of an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging).

For years, the makers of these contrast dyes have warned patients with kidney problems not to receive the injections because the dye is excreted through the kidneys. Patients with normal kidney function were considered not to be at risk for side effects due to gadolinium exposure. 

Linda alleges that years after she received an MRI using Magnevist contrast dye, she continues to retain the potentially toxic metal in her body. The gadolinium exposure allegedly has caused her to retain the metal in her brain, heart, liver, kidney, bones, and skin. As a result, Linda claims she suffers fibrosis in her organs, bones, and skin. Fibrosis is thickened, tough, stiff tissue often produced by scarring.

She also alleges gadolinium has been retained in the neuronal nuclei of her brain, deposited by blood flow.

Because Linda had normal kidney function at the time of her dye-based MRI, she claims she was not warned of the risks of gadolinium exposure and possible subsequent gadolinium retention.

Linear Gadolinium Exposure Problems

Two types of gadolinium are available for use as contrast dye agents: linear and macrocyclic.

According to the gadolinium exposure lawsuit, “In 1984 – prior to FDA approval – the inventors of linear gadolinium-based contrast agents claimed that their product, Gd-DTPA, did not cross the blood-brain barrier and that the bonds between the toxic gadolinium and its protective coating did not break inside the body.

The difference between the linear and macrocyclic agents is that the linear agents do not fully encapsulate the gadolinium ion, but the macrocyclic agents do. The gadolinium exposure lawsuit alleges the macrocyclic agents maintain a stronger bond with the ion as a result.

Magnevist, a linear contrast agent, was the first gadolinium-based dye available on the market for use with an MRI after it was FDA-approved in 1988.

The gadolinium exposure lawsuit alleges that research in 1988 showed that gadolinium ions were breaking free from the linear-based contrast agents, partly due to the body’s other essential metals of zinc, copper and iron competing for gadolinium’s protective layer. Other research indicated the bond between gadolinium and its protective layer was relatively weak and could easily separate in parts of the human body that measured low pH conditions.

Magnevist’s makers allegedly didn’t see the instability of the linear agents as a problem because the dye purportedly would be excreted out of the body before the outer covering could release gadolinium. The gadolinium exposure lawsuit alleges certain conditions may prolong the retention of the dyes, “allowing more toxic gadolinium to be released in the bodies of patients.”

The Gadolinium Exposure Lawsuit is Case No. CGC-18-568581 in the Superior Court for the State of California, County of San Francisco.