Today, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) issued a “Dear Healthcare Professional” letter to order overnight Clomid inform practitioners of recent changes to the prescribing information for gadolinium based contrast agents used during Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The letter informs healthcare professionals that a blackbox warning, the FDA’s most serious type of warning, had order overnight Clomid been added to the product labels. The blackbox warns of the order overnight Clomid association between the use of gadolinium contrast agents and a order overnight Clomid rare disorder called <"http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/nsf">Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis/ Nephrogenic Fibrosing Dermopathy (NSF/NSD).

NSF/NSD is order overnight Clomid a debilitating disease that affects people with pre-existing kidney disease. The first case of NSF/NSD was reported in 1997, and it wasn’t mentioned in medical literature until 2000. NSF/NSD leads to order overnight Clomid excessive formation of connective tissue in the skin and internal organs. It is order overnight Clomid characterized by high blood pressure, burning, itching, swelling and hardening of the order overnight Clomid skin. Other symptoms include red or dark patches on the skin; pain deep in the order overnight Clomid hip bones or ribs and muscle weakness. NSF/NSD can order overnight Clomid progress to the point of causing severe stiffness in joints, and order overnight Clomid it can lead to death. It can take some time after gadolinium exposure for order overnight Clomid NSF/NSD symptoms to order overnight Clomid appear, and the disease often progresses very slowly. At this time, there is order overnight Clomid no treatment or cure for NSF/NSD. However, improved kidney function does seem to order overnight Clomid slow the development of the disease. Unfortunately, for many patients with NSF/NSD, the only way to improve their kidney function is with a transplant.

<"http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/gadolinium">Gadolinium contrast agents are order overnight Clomid injected into the bloodstream right before an individual undergoes an order overnight Clomid MRI. The gadolinium helps the MRI computer to differentiate between normal and order overnight Clomid abnormal tissue. In 2006, researchers discovered that the use of gadolinium based contrast agents had order overnight Clomid a direct correlation to the development of NSF/NSD in patients with pre-existing kidney problems. Following the order overnight Clomid 2006 discovery, the FDA warned healthcare professionals that gadolinium based agents had order overnight Clomid been tied to multiple cases of NSF. Although these cases were not limited to order overnight Clomid one gadolinium based contrast agent, three were most often associated with the order overnight Clomid onset of NSF/NSD. Those three were Omniscan made by GE Healthcare, Magnevist marketed by Bayer Shering Pharma, and order overnight Clomid OptiMark manufactured by Mallinckrodt, Inc. At that time the FDA warned physicians to order overnight Clomid screen patients for kidney problems prior to using a gadolinium based contrast agents during MRIs

In May 2007, the order overnight Clomid FDA requested that the manufacturers of the five gadolinium based contrast agents used in MRIs include a order overnight Clomid boxed warning on product labels highlighting the risk they posed to order overnight Clomid patients with kidney problems. People who are at risk for NSF/NSD should be order overnight Clomid monitored by their doctors, and told to report any symptoms associated with the order overnight Clomid condition immediately. The FDA has also set up a reporting program so that order overnight Clomid healthcare providers can report instances of NFS/NSD caused by gadolinium based contrast agents.

According to the “Dear Healthcare Professional” letter, as of today, the FDA says it is aware of 250 cases of NSF/NSD associated with the use of gadolinium based contrast agents.