Comparison of diatrizoate, iopamidol, and ioxaglate for the contrast enhancement of experimental hepatic tumors in CT.

The accumulation of diatrizoate and two new low osmolality contrast agents, iopamidol and ioxaglate, was investigated in three experimental tumors (a well differentiated mammary adenocarcinoma, a poorly differentiated colon carcinoma, and a hepatoma) in the rat. All three tumors were implanted into the liver 12 to 14 days prior to intravenous injection of the contrast agents in a dose of 300 mg iodine per kg. Iodine concentrations were determined in blood, liver, and tumors at 1, 5, 10, and 30 minutes using x-ray energy spectrometry. Ratios between tumor iodine and blood iodine concentrations increased more with time with diatrizoate than either iopamidol or ioxaglate and were at 30 minutes significantly greater for diatrizoate than the other two agents. This suggests that the contrast medium efflux from the vascular compartment into the extravascular compartment of all tumors is greater for diatrizoate than either iopamidol or ioxaglate. Although it is known from clinical experience that the differential enhancement between hypodense hepatic tumors and liver parenchyma decreases rapidly with time after contrast administration, this investigation suggests that the substitution of diatrizoate by either iopamidol or ioxaglate should not affect appreciably the contrast enhancement in this condition in dynamic CT completed within the first minutes after contrast administration. In a later phase, after contrast administration, however, both iopamidol and ioxaglate should conceal hypodense hepatic tumors less than diatrizoate.