More than 1,000 gadolinium users have filed gadolinium lawsuits in US courts. Many of the lawsuits were consolidated in an Ohio court, where drug makers have regularly reached gadolinium settlements with people who have developed side effects. The gadolinium based contrast agents used during MRI’s have been directly linked to nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (“NFS”); a painful, progressive, and sometimes fatal condition of the skin and connective tissue.
“With all the doctors, the FDA, and the makers of the gadolinium contrast agents claiming to know what’s best for the patient- more and more MRI patients are left to their own devices after discovering that their NSF was caused by the MRI itself. That’s when they need a Gadolinium lawyer,” says David Eisbrouch, a partner at Balkin & Eisbrouch.
Most patients who have contacted a gadolinium lawyer and filed a lawsuit have cases that involve the gadolinium-based contrast agent Omniscan, which is manufactured by GE Healthcare. Omniscan has been named in nearly 75 percent of gadolinium lawsuits despite accounting for just 30 percent of the GBCA market.
Some experts have suggested that certain GBCAs are more prone to breaking down in the body than others, posing a greater risk to not just patients with renal insufficiency, but all gadolinium users. Gadolinium, a rare earth metal, is toxic to humans.
A relatively small-scale study presented at the 2011 annual meeting of the Society of Critical Care Medicine appears to contradict the long-held belief that the side effects of gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) can be especially dangerous for people with renal insufficiency. With this new information, it’s unclear as to how the lawsuits will progress, though the GBCA used in the study was Multihance and not Omniscan, the majority shareholder in the lawsuits.
According to the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NKUDIC), 11.5 percent of Americans suffer from some form of chronic kidney disease. Many do not know they have the condition. This new study may only shorten the list of CBCA’s that have caused the disease and keep the 11.5 percent of Americans with potential renal failure safe in the future.
