Diatrizoate in computed cranial tomography: a quantitative study.

Plasma diatrizoate concentrations during computed cranial tomography were measured by UV spectrophotometry in 14 patients. A loading dose of 0.82 mg diatrizoate/kg followed by a stead infusion of 0.01 mg/kg was required to attain and maintain plasma concentrations of approximately 400 mg/100 ml. Lowering the beam energy resulted in a substantial increase in the EMI numbers of diatrizoate and significant improvement in the delineation of contrast containing lesions. A contrast index estimating the volume of pixel containing diatrizoate was calculated for five diagnosed lesions and this factor appears to be related to vascularity and extravasation.