Hospitals face shortage of contrast dyes needed for CAT scans
BOSTON - Hospitals across the country, including Massachusetts, are dealing with a new supply chain shortage. This time it's contrast dye needed to perform CAT scans.
"Some studies you just can't see what you need to see if you don't use the contrast, you can't see a blood clot inside of a body without contrast," said Dr. Paul Biddinger, Medical Director for Emergency Preparedness at Mass General Brigham.
Medical experts said the contrast dye, which is injected into a patient's bloodstream, is vital to a hospital's day to day function. The majority of the supply comes from a General Electric factory in Shanghai which previously put a pause on production due to COVID.
"We're told we were going to get about 25% of what we normally get for contrast through July or August. It's a huge reduction given the work we need to do," Dr. Biddinger said.
Hospitals such as Mass General and UMass Memorial Health said they've resorted to conserving the dye, and allocating it based on patient necessity.
"For example, a patient involved in a motor vehicle accident or severe trauma patients," Chair of Radiology UMass Memorial Medical Center Dr. Max Rosen said.
A task difficult to undertake during a time medical experts say local hospitals are seeing an influx in patients.
"We brought them all to the table to identify where we could conserve and use less or find alternatives like using an MRI or ultrasound instead of a CAT scan," Dr. Biddinger said. "There are more people in the hospital in Massachusetts right now than there's ever been in history, it really is a significant thing."
"If patients could just be understanding if the radiology department does have to postpone your scan, know that they're doing it with the best interest of the population that they are taking care of," Dr. Rosen said.
GE said they expect production capacity at its Shanghai facility to be close to 100% by this week, but medical experts say it's going to take several weeks until hospitals will receive their normal supply.