A PROSPECTIVE COMPARISON OF IOTROLAN AND IOHEXOL IN LUMBAR MYELOGRAPHY

In a double-blind study 238 patients were examined with lumbar myelogr aphy using iotrolan or iohexol in randomized sequence in order to eval uate the image quality, the safety and tolerance of iotrolan by monito ring the adverse effects with special attention to late reactions. The re were no serious complications. On the first day 28 patients (24%) h ad headache after iotrolan and 41 (34%) after iohexol. This difference was not significant, and these frequencies are similiar to those foun d after spinal puncture alone. The second most frequent side effect wa s neck pain; the duration of neck pain were significantly longer after myelography with iohexol than with iotrolan. There was a significantl y higher frequency of adverse effects in females the first 24 hours, b ut during examination and on days 2 to 4 there were no differences bet ween males and females. Anamnestic information or myelographic diagnos is could not predict which patients would have side effects. The image quality was excellent or good in all examinations but one. It is conc luded that iotrolan is a safe contrast medium well suited for lumbar m yelography.