Contrast media reactions: data analysis and hypothesis.

Two hundred and twenty-eight deaths due to the use of contrast media are reported, including 15 from intravenous cholangiography, 69 from angiography, 140 from urography and four other. The causes are analyzed and the various explanations for reactions to contrast media are considered. Data concerning the high incidence of cardiac death, the large number of deaths due to pulmonary edema, and the known transgression of the blood-brain barrier by contrast media are used to construct a theory that bases all reactions on the effect of contrast media on the central nervous system.