Gadofosveset (trade names Vasovist, Ablavar) is a

gadolinium-based MRI contrast agent MRI contrast agents are contrast agents used to improve the visibility of internal body structures in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The most commonly used compounds for contrast enhancement are gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs). Suc ...

. It was used as the trisodium salt monohydrate form. It acts as a blood pool agent by binding to

human serum albumin Human serum albumin is the serum albumin found in human blood. It is the most abundant protein in human blood plasma; it constitutes about half of serum protein. It is produced in the liver. It is soluble in water, and it is monomeric. Albumin ...

. The manufacturer (

Lantheus Medical Lantheus, headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, is a company in the radiopharmaceuticals business. It has strategic partnerships with Bayer, Novartis, Regeneron as well as GE Healthcare and Siemens Healthineers Siemens Healthineers is a ...

) discontinued production in 2017 due to poor sales. Gadofosveset consists of a

gadolinium Gadolinium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Gd and atomic number 64. It is a silvery-white metal when oxidation is removed. Gadolinium is a malleable and ductile rare-earth element. It reacts with atmospheric oxygen or moi ...

cation bound to the

chelating agent Chelation () is a type of bonding of ions and their molecules to metal ions. It involves the formation or presence of two or more separate coordinate bonds between a polydentate (multiple bonded) ligand and a single central metal atom. These l ...

fosveset. It facilitates high-resolution

magnetic resonance angiography Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) is a group of techniques based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to image blood vessels. Magnetic resonance angiography is used to generate images of arteries (and less commonly veins) in order to evaluate ...

. Ferumoxytol (trade names Feraheme, Rienso), an intravenous iron-replacement therapy, has been shown to potentially be superior to gadofosveset as a blood pool agent for MR venography in pediatric patients.

References

MRI contrast agents Organogadolinium compounds Withdrawn drugs {{pharma-stub