NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Iopromide, a nonionic iodinated contrast agent, is used for select radiographic procedures, but new research indicates that it can be safely used across a wide range of CT procedures.

As reported in the American Journal of Roentgenology for January, Dr. Koenraad J. Mortele and colleagues, from Harvard Medical School in Boston, recorded the adverse events that were temporally linked with iopromide use in nearly 30,000 consecutive patients.

Overall, 211 patients or 0.7% experienced an adverse event, the authors note. By far, the most common event was urticaria, noted in 161 patients, followed by facial/laryngeal edema, seen in 13.

Eighty-nine percent of events were rated as mild, 9% as moderate, and 2% as severe, the researchers report. The one fatality that occurred involved an elderly man with several comorbidities who experienced facial/laryngeal edema and paroxysmal ventricular tachycardia after iopromide was given.

Nearly half of the patients with events reported a history of allergy, including many with a prior contrast reaction. Even without an allergy history, many of the patients had risk factors for a contrast reaction.

Patient age, iodine dose, and time of study had no effect on the risk of an adverse event. By contrast, women and outpatients were at increased risk for such events (p < 0.001 for both).

"Universal use of iopromide as a CT contrast agent has a safety profile comparable to that of other media in its class," the investigators conclude.

Am J Roentgenol 2005;185:31-34.

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