• Stavros Lalos, Christopher C Raio, Eric Decena, Sunil Shah, Adam Schwartz, Luke Decena, Atieh D Ashkezari, and Lauren Klein.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Good Samaritan University Hospital, West Islip, NY, United States.
• Am J Emerg Med. 2025 Feb 1; 88: 213217213-217.

BackgroundA COVID-19 lockdown in China resulted in a global disruption in IV contrast media production, which resulted in a hospital system advisory limiting contrast studies. The purpose of this study was to describe the effects of the IV contrast shortage on the ED diagnosis of emergent abdominopelvic pathology.MethodsThis was a retrospective multi-center study performed across six EDs. Adult patients with a chief complaint of "Abdominal Pain" who had a CT abdomen/pelvis during the contrast shortage (May 12, 2022 - June 29, 2022) were included; a control group (April 11, 2022-May 11, 2022) was included as well.ResultsThere were 1003 patients included during the contrast shortage period, and 775 patients in the control group. During the contrast shortage period, 464 (46 %) patients had CT scans with IV contrast, compared to 653 (84 %) during the control period. There was not a significant increase in repeat/secondary IV CTs ordered during the ED encounter during the contrast shortage period compared to the control period (4, 0.4 % versus 3, 0.4 %). In reviewing all CTs ordered during the ED encounter, within 72-h of admission, or during a 72-h revisit, there were no cases of missed important diagnoses during the contrast shortage period or the control period.ConclusionWe did not identify differences in diagnoses during the contrast shortage period compared to the control period, and did not identify any missed important diagnoses as a consequence of the IV contrast shortage.Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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