ACUTE AND LATE ADVERSE REACTIONS TO LOW-OSMOLAL CONTRAST-MEDIA

A prospective study of acute and late reactions to low-osmolal contras t media was conducted in 4 875 patients. The contrast medium was injec ted intravenously in 4 417 patients and intraarterially in 458 for CT, urography or angiography. In the i.v. group only nonionic contrast me dia, iohexol or iopamidol, were used and in the intraarterial group bo th ionic and nonionic contrast media, ioxaglate and iohexol, were used . The patients completed 2-phase questionnaires, the rate of reply bei ng 88%. In the i.v. group the incidence of acute reactions was 1.2% an d that of late reactions was 4.7%. In the intraarterial group the inci dence of acute reactions was 7.4% and the incidence of late reactions was 4.8%. Women and patients from under 40 to 60 years of age were the most susceptible to late reactions. The risk factors for late reactio ns are allergy, medicine allergy, previous adverse reaction to contras t medium and other diseases including diabetes mellitus, heart-, liver - and kidney diseases.