Tracking the impact of global iodinated contrast agent shortage on radiology: analysis of CT exam volumes at a major US healthcare

Abstract

We track the impact of the current global shortage of iodinated contrast agents on radiology operations at a major US healthcare system. Using repurposed software infrastructure of a commercial AI-based image analysis vendor (Aidoc Medical, Tel Aviv, Israel), we analyzed daily volumes of radiology service request data for a total of 17,061 Computed Tomography (CT) exams before and during the contrast agent shortage (both comprising 04/01/2022 through 07/01/2022), namely 2,407 CT Pulmonary Angiography (CTPA), 3,811 non-angiography Contrast-Enhanced Thoracic CT (CE-TCT), and, for comparison, 10,843 non-contrast head CT exams. Specifically, we compared two observational periods, namely (i) a pre-shortage control period from 04/14/22 through 05/05/2022, and (ii) a contrast shortage period from 05/21/2022 through 06/11/2022. A percentage change metric of case volumes was calculated, where we report relative changes with regard to a baseline measurement period from 04/01/2022 through 04/14/2022. The two observational periods were compared for statistically significant differences. Case volumes of contrast-enhanced CT scans dropped from baseline during the contrast agent shortage period, namely by 60.66%±23.33% for CE-TCT and 42.88%±20.22% for CTPA, respectively, where statistical differences between observational periods were highly significant (p < 10 −4 ). Our results suggest a significant reduction of contrast-enhanced chest CT exams during the observed global contrast agent shortage, where CTPA exams were slightly less affected than other non-angiography contrast-enhanced chest CT studies. We conclude that data tracking using repurposed AI image analysis service software infrastructure can