Radiology, Vol 167, 601-605, Copyright © 1988 by Radiological Society of North America
Nonionic versus ionic contrast media in intravenous urography: clinical trial in 1,000 consecutive patients
BF Jacobsson, H Jorulf, MS Kalantar and DL Narasimham
Department of Radiology, Hamad General Hospital, Doha, Qatar.
A double-blind clinical trial was performed in 1,000 consecutive patients
to compare the safety and efficacy of intravenously administered nonionic
(iohexol) and ionic (metrizoate) urographic contrast media. The patients
ranged in age from 10 to 80 years. The incidence of mild to moderate
adverse effects was 7.7% with iohexol and 31.2% with metrizoate. No serious
reactions were recorded with either of the contrast media. Urography with
iohexol was found to give better parenchymal opacification, pelvocalyceal
opacification, and overall quality. The sum of examinations with good and
excellent overall quality was 97.8% with iohexol and 91.1% with metrizoate.
The frequency of poor overall quality urograms was 1.6% with iohexol and
7.5% with metrizoate. The data suggest that iohexol is safer and more
frequently produces urograms of better quality.
