(UCSF) – As a worldwide shortage of contrast dye for medical imaging continues, a new UC San Francisco research letter in JAMA quantified strategies medical facilities can employ to safely reduce dye use in computed tomography (CT) by up to 83%. CT is the most common use for the dye.
The three conservation strategies are weight-based (rather than fixed) dosing, reducing contrast dose while reducing tube voltage on scanners, and replacing contrast-enhanced CT with nonenhanced CT when it will minimally affect diagnostic accuracy.
That third strategy – forgoing the dye in some cases of CT when it would result in only small impact on diagnostic accuracy – yielded the most dramatic reduction of dye use: 78%.
