Breastfeeding and contrast agents-A critical review and presentation of new aspects

There are discrepancies between guidelines of scientific societies and information of the package inserts of contrast media concerning breastfeeding following the application of a contrast agent to the mother.

The contents of different review articles reflect the opinion of scientific societies. Consequently, in clinical routine settings it is difficult to find the optimal advice for a breastfeeding woman and her baby.

Therefore, the paper carefully summarized important information dealing with the topic 'breastfeeding and contrast media' from the literature. Among other things, the paper focuses on topics that are not yet taken into account in other reviews (e.g. approval for breastfeeding women, contrast agents that have been analysed in human breast milk).

In this way, the review shows new aspects. It has been revealed that data concerning the amount of contrast agents in human breast milk as well as contrast medium absorption by the infants' intestine are sparse. Instead of them, a lot of speculations and incorrect conclusions do exist in the literature. Because studies are rare or missing, contrast media are not approved for breastfeeding women (off-label-use).

Although breastfeeding women 100% prefers a break from breastfeeding, in current decision-making processes, their preference plays a minor role. However, this should change in the future. In addition, it would be very important to inform breastfeeding women in the future about the missing data concerning 'breastfeeding and contrast media'.