AL is very much right about the contrast being the reason for checking your creatinine. they usually will also check your potassium as well. it DOES just impact the kidneys of people who have kidney problems or disease. the bigger thing here is you do NOT always even know that you actually even HAVE certain types of kidney diseases that you just can actually be born with either. i did not fund out til i was actually almost 40 years old, with a few contrasted MRIs already having been done by then, that i had had a cystic form of kidney disease my whole life but since my labs were still all perfect, i did not have a clue til my youngest son got sick. THAT is when we had to be tested and found out i had whats called PKD.
sooo, in the long run here, since contrast can cause problems in certain vulunerable kidneys(only people who have an out of the norm creatinine or low GFR),its just a really good solid preventitive measure to take with any patient.
normal functioning kidneys can handle and filter contrast just fine with no problems. its those of us who just DO have kidney issues that it can create bigger issues, so you should be just fine as long as your creatinine comes up within the norm range, which chances are, you just will. they are merely following standard protocal for giving contrast here, thats all. that contrast being used during MRI just really does help alot to possibly highlight certain findings that are not always well seen, so it is a good thing to have when just having an MRI done to just help dx something vs without it. good luck with the MRI. i hope whatever you are looking for is not too bad there. FB
