JAMA published a new study which examined over 1 million deliveries. The study compared what happened to the fetus when the mother received an MRI, received an MRI with gadolinium or didn’t receive one at all. Women who had an MRI during the first trimester of pregnancy do not experience an increased risk for harm to the fetus relative to women who were not exposed. Researchers did not see any complications in childhood either.
However, if the mother had an MRI with gadolinium at any point in her pregnancy, the child was in grave harm. Gadolinium in MRIs brought an increased risk for stillbirth and neonatal mortality. Plus, over the course of 4 years, researchers noticed the child had increased risk for a broad range of medical conditions. These include rheumatological, inflammatory, or infiltrative skin conditions. These risks remained the same if the mother had gadolinium in her MRI at any point in her pregnancy.
