Incidence of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis at Chinese PLA General Hospital

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), dermatology, and dermatopathology records were searched to determine the incidence of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) at a large military hospital in China. Over the past 3.7 years, gadolinium-based contrast agent (GBCA)-enhanced MRI was performed with Gd-DTPA (n = 28,680) or MultiHance (n = 635) typically at slightly more than a standard dose, as most patients received a unit dose, 15 mL or 20 mL instead of a weight-based dose. This included 118 renal failure patients with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) less than 30 mL/min and 33 patients on chronic hemodialysis. Despite a diligent search involving rereview of histopathological sections in similarly diagnosed cases, there was no evidence that any patient developed nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. For the renal failure and hemodialysis patients, there were no clinical notes of unexplained rashes within 3 months following GBCA. The incidence of NSF in Chinese People Liberation Army General Hospital using gadolinium (Gd) in 29,315 patients, 151 with severe renal failure or hemodialysis, is thus far undetectable. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2009;30:1309-1312. (c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.