Pulmonary edema induced by contrast medium. A comparative investigation in the rat following high intravenous doses of one ionic (diatrizoate) and non-ionic (metrizamide) contrast medium.

Monomeric ionic contrast media are known to induce a significant degree of pulmonary edema following intravenous injection of high doses of contrast media in rats. This edema has been shown to be dependent on dose and rate of injection. Metrizamide administered at the same dose causes much less and more transient pulmonary edema than diatrizoate. Although blood osmolalities were significantly and consistently lower following administration of metrizamide compared with diatrizoate, this difference alone does not account for the difference in the degree of pulmonary edema induced by these media.