COVID-19 continues to disrupt health care, most recently by causing a shortage of contrast media products – a critical aspect of many imaging and interventional treatment procedures – due to a shutdown of a major manufacturing facility in China. The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) warns patients and health care providers that the shortage may affect care and patient safety.
Injected intravenously, contrast media enhances the differences between body tissues to help clinicians and health care professionals pinpoint the area of concern. Physician anesthesiologists and other pain management specialists rely on contrast media to identify the source of pain when performing epidural spinal or nerve block injections and other procedures that can provide relief for the one in five people in the U.S. who suffer from chronic back pain.
David Dickerson, M.D., chair of the ASA’s Committee on Pain Medicine, is available to talk about the shortage, including what patients and clinicians need to know. He can address:
- How the shortage is impacting patient care and patient safety
- Why patients need to ask whether their procedure will include contrast media, and what alternatives, if any, are being used
- When contrast media is an important part of effective treatment and when it’s not
- What clinicians need to know about the risks of contrast media alternatives and why avoiding some substitutions, even during a shortage, may be the safer approach
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