Adverse reactions to myelography with metrizamide in infants, children and adolescents. I. General and CNS effects.

A prospective investigation of the adverse effects of myelography with metrizamide was performed in a series of 250 examinations in infants, children and adolescents. Adverse reactions occurred in 58 per cent of all cases. The majority of these were mild, and seemed to be due to the lumbar puncture alone. The frequency of the moderate and marked reactions was directly related to the total amount of metrizamide given and to the cranial extension of the examination in the spinal canal. No other circumstances around the procedure had any impact on the occurrence of adverse reactions.