Presently available contrast materials have a relatively high osmolality and are ionic in make-up. Recently, non-ionic contrast materials have been developed with lower osmolality, and thus offer the theoretical advantage of having fewer side effects as well as decreased or absent hemodynamic effects upon injection. Iopamidol is one such agent which is presently under investigational testing by E.R. Squibb and Sons, Inc. We administered iopamidol to 20 patients for the purposes of left ventriculography and coronary angiography. Three of these patients had repeat left angiography, 4 also had aortic root angiography and one right ventriculography. Two patients experienced nausea with the initial LV injections, and in one patient, the same response occurred during injections of the left coronary artery. One patient also had a sneezing episode which was probably related to iopamidol administration and one developed a rash which may have been related to protamine administration. No patient had a significant hemodynamic or electrophysiologic side effect during or after iopamidol injection. Qualitative evaluation of angiographic results indicated adequate to superior quality of images. In summary, iopamidol appears to be a safe contrast agent which provides good images. It appears that it might be a safer agent than those presently available.
