Alan H. Matsumoto, MD, chair of the department of radiology at the University of Virginia, vice chair of the American College of Radiology (ACR) Board of Chancellors, and chairman of the ACR Commission on Interventional and Cardiovascular Radiology, explains that the iodine contrast shortage has led to use of MRI gadolinium contrast agents in some cases.

“We need to commit to changing the supply chain so that a single event in a faraway country does not put us in this predicament again," experts wrote in a new special report shared by Radiology.

The COVID lockdowns at the Shanghai plant began on March 31, and although the plant there has since resumed operations, they are not yet at 100% capacity.

The American Hospital Association is asking GE Healthcare to more fully apprise AHA’s nearly 5,000 member organizations of what the company is doing to help ameliorate the ongoing disruption in supplies of Omnipaque (iohexol).

U.S. healthcare is now a solid week into the CT contrast shortage of ’22, and common themes are emerging in adaptations at local hospitals and imaging centers.

With the shortage, which pertains specifically to all formulations and concentrations of GE Healthcare’s Omnipaque (iohexol), expected to last until mid-June, several organizations have alluded that conservation efforts are of critical importance.

All formulations and concentrations of GE Healthcare’s Omnipaque (iohexol) are expected to be in short supply until mid-June due to COVID lockdowns where the contrast is manufactured.

Hospital and health systems saw incremental economic improvements in March, with rising margins and fewer COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.