Objectives: The purpose of this study is to determine the frequency and severity of acute allergic-like reactions to gadolinium-based contrast media (GBCM) in children before, during, and after the transition from gadopentetate dimeglumine to gadoterate meglumine as our primary clinical GBCM.
Materials and methods: Institutional review board approval was obtained for this Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant retrospective investigation. Allergic-like reactions to GBCM in pediatric patients were retrospectively assessed from January 2009 to January 2017, which included a departmental change of GBCM from gadopentetate dimeglumine to gadoterate meglumine. Allergic-like reactions were identified from departmental and hospital databases. The number of doses of GBCM was obtained from billing data. Allergic-like reaction frequencies for each GBCM were calculated and compared using the chi-squared test.
Results: A total of 32,365 administrations of GBCM occurred during the study period (327 for gadofosveset trisodium; 672 for gadoxetate disodium; 12,012 for gadoterate meglumine; and 19,354 for gadopentetate dimeglumine). Allergic-like reactions occurred after 21 (0.06%) administrations. Reaction frequencies were not significantly different among the GBCM (0.3% gadofosveset trisodium; 0% gadoxetate disodium, 0.06% gadoterate meglumine, 0.08% gadopentetate dimeglumine; P > 0.05). Ten (47.6%) reactions were mild, 10 (47.6%) were moderate, and 1 (4.8%) was severe. The overall reaction frequency peaked during the 6-month transition period from gadopentetate dimeglumine to gadoterate meglumine (0.20%), compared with 0.07% pretransition (P = 0.048) and 0.04% posttransition (P = 0.0095).
Conclusion: Allergic-like reactions to GBCM in children are rare. Gadoterate meglumine has a reaction frequency that does not significantly differ from other GBCMs. During the transition from gadopentetate dimeglumine to gadoterate meglumine, an increase in the frequency of reported allergic-like reactions was observed, likely reflective of the Weber effect.