Experimental evaluation of five liver-spleen specific CT contrast agents.

We tested five experimental liver-spleen specific computed tomography (CT) contrast agents, all of which are aqueous emulsions of iodinated vegetable oils. These compounds were compared with ethiodized oil emulsion 13 (EOE-13) and with a 5% dextrose in water control. We evaluated three animal/dose level models with both histology and CT to determine the best screening method for compounds of this type. We compared a rat/high dose model, a rat/medium dose model, and a rabbit/low dose model; the best discrimination was seen with the rabbit/low dose model. Histology of liver, spleen, and lung did not correlate with the attenuation values obtained from CT. We conclude that use of CT and a rabbit/low dose model is superior for screening compounds of this type. Of the compounds tested, only one, an emulsion of ethyl monoiodostearate (compound 208E), approached the effectiveness of EOE-13.