Metrizamide myelography in patients with iodine allergy or previous adverse reactions to iodinated contrast media.

Twenty-seven metrizamide myelographies were performed in 26 patients who had a history of iodine allergy or adverse reactions to iodinated contrast media. Three of the patients had had adverse reactions from a previous myelography procedure. All patients received atropine, diazepam, and metoclopramide as premedication. In ten examinations corticosteroids were also given. No patient, during or after myelography, had any reaction that could be related to hypersensitivity to the contrast medium. The incidence of headache, the most frequent side effect, was almost the same in patients who had corticosteroids in their premedication (30%) as in patients without (35%). These observations indicate that metrizamide myelography may be performed despite previous adverse reactions to contrast media.