Pituatary Closed MRI without contrast IV?

[thyroida]

My doctor wants me to have open MRI of Pituatary with IV contrast.  Can this procedure be done without the IV contrast?  A family member had the same test done and suffered serious allergic reaction to the material.

[rumpled]

I had to cut my answer short as I had to go an appt.
If you have already had gad, you are likely not allergic like your cousin but yeah, I am not so happy each time I get it as well so I make sure I get liver function tests but of all my buds, only one of my friends has ad to do chelation to get rid of the gad.

I hope for doing the gad, they at least did the MRI correctly.

[rumpled]

A typical pituitary MRI is with and without contrast and a technique called dynamic.
They want the contrast as they take images while the contrast is being injected so if the set up was done with IV and they did it so the you were not taken out of the machine, then they can see the uptake in the pituitary and surrounding areas and that can show abnormal tissue and show up lesions that are otherwise too small to see.

I have had over 20 MRIs with contrast (yikes!). My liver etc. is fine. I do drink liquids after and they do test my liver function to make sure. That is probably the only part of me that is fine.

I forget if your tumor had showed up on a previous MRI?

[Julie251]

My endocrinologist told me that they could be done without contrast and some of his patients have indeed refused it, so after having had it injected five times previously I really wanted to avoid it this time.  The endocrinologist said nobody could force you to have it if you didn't want it.  But the MRI technician told me that if I didn't take it I may as well go home and forget about the test because she wasn't even going to do it.  She said the results would be so bad that it wouldn't even be worthwhile.

This really upset me because yes, every time you have to have a gadolinium injection, you do have to sign forms saying you realize you could end up in a coma, dye, or end up on kidney dialysis for the rest of your life or develop fibrosis, lung or heart damage, or whatever.  It's like playing Russian Roulette each time and makes me sweat for months in advance.  I loathe having metal put into my veins especially since I have left ventricular hypertrophy and have exhibited several symptoms of TIA.  I feel that in time these injections will narrow the veins, especially after many injections.

One thing this technician did tell me though, (which really angered me that other technicians hadn't told me), was to drink a lot of liquid about 10 minutes before the injection.  (I sat in my car and drank V8 juice).  Then when you go home, drink as much as you can also, especially coffee, which will make you go to the bathroom often, to get it out of your system.

I can really empathize with your fears.  There is nothing I hate more than these injections, but I can also assure you that growing tumours are deadly too and can cause many other types of cancer in your body as well.  That's one truly awful stinking things about pituitary tumours!

[LEAgirl]

If these injections can kill you I would say to avoid them

[rumpled]

Have you already determined if you have a pituitary tumor or not?

If yes, you probably can skip the contrast... but being allergic to the contrast is pretty rare.

As for the MRI, your doc is not sending you for a proper pituitary MRI. Open MRIs generally cannot pick up pituitary lesions as the magnets just are not as strong as a closed one.

As well, there is a technique called dynamic - you want to make sure that the tech giving you the MRI has done many pit MRIs before as they have to have a proper set up for it and you have to have an IV and they give you the contrast gradually when you are in the MRI. This way they can take pictures during the uptake and often tumors are seen as the tumors take the contrast differently than normal tissue. You need an experienced place as too fast or too slow makes for black or white pics.

Make sure you drink a lot before and after the MRI to help flush the contrast from your body.

[testdeprived]

is it an open mri or closed you say closed in thte title and opened in the post. I would not get an open mri for a pituitary..its a waste of time..reschedule ona  closed.

the contrast is VERY important. it helps to show enhancements that are not shewn without it. it shows differences in brain structures such as tumors that cant be shown as easily with normal pictures. they compare the normal pictures to the enhanced.

idk your risk of getting a reaction but i know you will have a hard time finding anything without the contrast.