A relatively simple toilet filtration system removes iodinated contrast agents from wastewater, according to research findings presented December 2 at the RSNA meeting.
The study is "the first to show that nearly all contrast media can be removed from excreted urine when using a toilet filtration system, reducing the amount of contrast media in wastewater," presenter Helena Maria Dekker, MD, of Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, told session attendees.
Contrast media has a negative impact on the water supply and has been found in sewage, surface, and drinking water, Dekker explained. It's not effectively removed by current purification techniques, which presents a problem for drinking water, she said.
Dekker and colleagues, along with senior author Mathias Prokop, MD, (also of Radboud) conducted a study that used a toilet filtration system (Zereau) with two cartridges: The first collects fecal matter and toilet paper and the second collects urine and contains absorbents that bind to contrast media. The filter was used with 170 patients who underwent inpatient interventional cardiac procedures with Iomeron 300 (Bracco Diagnostics) and with another group of 140 patients who underwent an outpatient MRI exam with Dotaram (Guerbet). The researchers assessed contrast removal efficiency by measuring ratios between injected and excreted contrast.
The investigators checked the filter's ability to remove contrast with 34 interventional cardiac patients and 37 MRI patients who received on average 115 ml Iomeron and 20 ml Dotarem, respectively, Dekker said. She and her colleagues reported that contrast removal efficiency was 99% for Iomeron and 99% for Dotarem.
"Further measures need to be taken to optimize the amount of excreted contrast in the urine during a hospital stay," but the filtration system offers two clear advantages, Dekker said.
"[The system allows for] immediate removal of contrast agents at the source … [and an] opportunity for raw material recycling," she concluded.
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