Is it against the law to run a contrast MRI or CT without checking GFR?

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that healthcare professionals check a patient's glomerular filtration rate (GFR) before administering contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) scans. This is because contrast agents can be harmful to patients with kidney disease, and checking GFR helps to identify patients who are at risk of developing contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI).

The FDA recommends that healthcare professionals use the CKD-EPI (Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration) equation to estimate GFR. The CKD-EPI equation uses a patient's age, sex, race, and serum creatinine level to calculate GFR.

Healthcare professionals should also consider the patient's medical history and other factors that could affect GFR, such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure.

If a patient's GFR is below 60 mL/min/1.73 m2, the healthcare professional should weigh the risks and benefits of administering a contrast agent. In some cases, it may be necessary to administer the contrast agent in a lower dose or to take other precautions to reduce the risk of CI-AKI.

Failure to check GFR before administering a contrast agent could result in CI-AKI, which can be a serious and potentially life-threatening condition.