Water-soluble contrast media in obstructed in ischemic small intestine. A clinical and experimental study.

In this study the attention was focused on the possible application of the new low-osmolar water-soluble contrast media in already existing routines for radiologic diagnostic work-up and management of the abdominal emergencies of simple intestinal obstruction and ischemia: Iohexol was a good, or better, alternative to sodium diatrizoate regarding taste acceptance and patient reactions: Seventy-five per cent of patients characterized the taste of iohexol as good or neutral, while 52% gave sodium diatrizoate similar scores. The scores were also consistently in favor of iohexol as compared with sodium diatrizoate for the other chosen criteria; nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but a larger number of patients may be needed for conclusive evaluation. Water-soluble media may have therapeutic effects on intestinal obstruction when preceded by conventional gastric suction using a short gastric tube: Twenty-three of 25 patients with subtotal small bowel obstruction due to peritoneal adhesions improved following the ingestion of either iohexol or sodium diatrizoate. Hyperosmolar contrast media might stimulate peristalsis and dilute the bowel contents, hence, easing the passage through a subtotally obstructed bowel. In rats, a direct relationship was found between contrast medium osmolality and the degree of intestinal distension, fluid influx to the bowel lumen and the speed of contrast medium progression. The water-soluble, low-osmolar contrast media seem promising as diagnostic aids in examination of the gastrointestinal tract: The low-osmolar contrast media gave better intestinal details on films than both barium sulphate and sodium diatrizoate in rats with intestinal obstruction or ischemia when high volumes of radiopaques were employed. Also in patients iohexol retained its radiographic density in the small bowel better than sodium diatrizoate. The diagnostic efficacy of the water-soluble radiographic media varied directly with their osmolality and the resulting fluid influx to bowel lumen. Hyperosmolality stimulated contrast medium progression and bowel distension, and reduced the radiographic density of the contrast media and the alignment to the bowel wall. Water-soluble contrast media may aid the diagnosis of bowel ischemia and the evaluation of the degree of ischemic injury: No bladder opacification, following absorption of water-soluble contrast media from the simply obstructed bowel, was observed in the majority of the animals and was only faintly present in 8%. Distinct radiographic opacification of the urinary bladder in rats with intestinal ischemia was demonstrated as early as 1-2 hours after the administration of contrast medium.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)