The traditional and standard recommendation is that lactating women who receive intravascular iodinated contrast or gadolinium should discontinue breast-feeding for 24 hours, and the expressed milk during this period should be discarded [1]. The rationale for this recommendation appears weak, for several reasons:
- Only tiny amounts of iodinated or gadolinium-based contrast medium given to a lactating mother reach the milk. For example, a recent study of 20 lactating women found that less than 0.04% of the maternal dose of intravenous gadolinium passes into the breast milk [2].
- Only a tiny fraction of iodinated contrast or gadolinium entering the infant gut is absorbed. For example, only 1-2% of oral iodinated contrast is absorbed into the bloodstream [3].
Given these considerations, and in accordance with the results of a comprehensive review by the European Society of Urogenital Radiology, the very small potential risk associated with absorption of contrast medium may be insufficient to warrant stopping breast-feeding for 24 hours following either iodinated or gadolinium contrast agents [4]. A recent review in the New England Journal of Medicine also concluded that iodinated contrast administered to breast-feeding women posed no risk to the infant [5].
Key point: Lactating women who receive iodinated contrast or gadolinium can continue breast feeding without interruption.
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