Had Feraheme?Tell the MRI Team Before Your Scan

If you received Feraheme, contact the MRI service before your scan and give them the infusion dates. Feraheme is an intravenous iron medicine containing ferumoxytol. Its U.S. prescribing information warns that MRI images may be altered for up to three months after the last dose.¹

What the label asks the imaging team to consider

The FDA¹-published label says anticipated MRI studies should be performed before Feraheme administration. When MRI is needed within three months afterward, it advises using T1- or proton density-weighted sequences to reduce its effects. It says T2-weighted imaging should not be performed earlier than four weeks after administration.¹

Those are instructions about how MRI images are acquired. You do not need to identify your scan’s sequences yourself. Ask the booking team to pass the medicine name and dates to the radiologist, who can assess the examination you need.

The four-week statement does not establish that every MRI is unaffected after a month: the label separately describes possible effects lasting up to three months.¹ Do not cancel an urgent examination or postpone prescribed iron on your own. Get instructions from the teams responsible for both appointments.

Why a medication list may miss it

A 2019 case report describes a 29-year-old woman whose two breast MRI examinations, a week apart, were difficult to interpret. Images appeared to show contrast effects before the MRI contrast medicine had been administered.²

Her electronic medication list contained vitamin D and thyroid medicine. Direct questioning uncovered Feraheme infusions given the day before each MRI. The authors subsequently added IV iron supplementation to their institution’s breast MRI questionnaire.²

That is one patient’s experience, not a frequency estimate or proof that everyone needs the same delay. It illustrates why a completed infusion should still be mentioned during screening.

Send these details before the visit

Use the patient portal or call the MRI service with:

• The exact medicine and brand name from the infusion record.
• The date of every recent dose, especially the last one.
• The scheduled MRI date and body area being examined.
• The infusion service’s contact details if the radiologist needs the record.

Ask: “I received Feraheme on these dates. Has the radiologist reviewed whether it affects this examination, and should either appointment change?” If the scan already happened, give the same information to the imaging service and ordering clinician so they can decide whether the report needs review.

The Feraheme label says it does not interfere with X-ray, CT, ultrasound, PET, SPECT or nuclear medicine imaging.¹ That does not make those tests interchangeable with your ordered MRI. Ask the ordering clinician about any alternative.

For readers having iron treatment after heavy periods, “The Iron Question” in Period, Handled explains the distinction between iron stores and anemia. Keep the infusion record alongside those blood-test results, with the name and dates available for future appointments.