Community & Business

4 June, 2022

Disruption to surgery schedule

TABLELANDERS waiting for some non-urgent elective surgeries will have to wait a bit longer after Queensland Health announced some procedures will have to be re-scheduled due to a critical world-wide shortage of contrast solutions required for a range of medical imaging.

The iodinated solutions are used in computerised tomography (CT) scans and other imaging such as angiography, which supports diagnosis and ongoing treatment for a range of conditions, including narrowed or blocked arteries. 

The disruption is due to supply chain issues related to Covid lockdowns in Shanghai, where the supplier’s production facility is situated. 

Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Services executive director Kirstine Sketcher- Baker said the supply of the products Omnipaque (iohexol) and Visipaque (iodixanol) was not expected to be resolved until end of June. 

Affected patients will be contacted by their treating hospitals to reschedule their procedures.

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