VIDEO: Contrast media shortage impacting cardiac CT imaging
Eric Williamson, MD, MSCCT, the president of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) and professor of radiology at Mayo Clinic, explains how the iodine contrast shortage is causing issues for cardiac CT imaging. He discusses ways imagers can stretch their iodine contrast supplies and some technologies to help conserve contrast.
He explained how hospitals are trying to reduce their usage of iodine contrast for CT imaging. This includes working with hospital pharmacies to break down large packaging into smaller vials or syringes to prevent waste. Williamson said less dose also can be used and CT system kVp can be reduced to help improve the iodine visualization on low contrast scans.
Williamson is also associate chair for radiology informatics at Mayo Clinic Rochester and supervises the radiology artificial intelligence program at Mayo. He is the former division chair of cardiovascular radiology and medical director of CT operations at Mayo Clinic. He serves as co-director of Mayo Clinic's structural heart disease imaging lab.
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Dave Fornell has covered healthcare for more than 17 years, with a focus in cardiology and radiology. Fornell is a 5-time winner of a Jesse H. Neal Award, the most prestigious editorial honors in the field of specialized journalism. The wins included best technical content, best use of social media and best COVID-19 coverage. Fornell was also a three-time Neal finalist for best range of work by a single author. He produces more than 100 editorial videos each year, most of them interviews with key opinion leaders in medicine. He also writes technical articles, covers key trends, conducts video hospital site visits, and is very involved with social media. E-mail: dfornell@innovatehealthcare.com