Renal CT after intravenous injection of nonionic dimeric or nonionic monomeric contrast media in healthy volunteers

Purpose: To establish and compare time-density curves of the aorta, vena cava and renal cortex, medulla and pelvis after injection of the nonionic dimer iodixanol or the nonionic monomer iopromide contrast media.

Material and Methods: In 36 healthy volunteers CT at the renal hilus was performed at regular intervals before and until 30 min after injection of 13.5 g I iodixanol or 15.0 g I iopromide. The density of the renal cortex, medulla, pelvis, aorta and inferior caval vein was measured.

Results: With injection of the 10% lower iodine dose in the iodixanol group, the profiles of the CT time-density curves were similar for all regions except for the renal pelvis. For the renal pelvis, significantly higher density values were obtained for the iodixanol group up to 10 min after injection.

Conclusion: Although the present study shows that a lower iodine dose is needed for a dimeric compared to a monomeric nonionic contrast medium to obtain similar time-density curves, more studies are needed to establish the clinical importance of this for urography.