Iohexol lumbar myelography: clinical study.

Forty-three patients underwent lumbar myelography with the new, nonionic contrast medium iohexol. Multiple laboratory examinations, neurologic examinations, and electrocardiograms showed no significant alterations after intrathecal injection of the contrast agent. Mild electroencephalographic changes were seen in one patient. Nineteen adverse reactions occurred in 13 patients; only one of them was considered severe. No patient experienced a seizure, auditory or visual hallucination, or similar neuropsychologic reaction. This is a distinct improvement over the side effects described for previous water-soluble contrast agents. The adverse reactions occurring with iohexol myelography are fewer in number and less severe than with metrizamide myelography, and radiographic visualization obtained with iohexol is equal to that obtained with metrizamide. With iohexol, it appears that the most disturbing and disabling neuropsychologic reactions have been reduced to an acceptable minimum.