Contrast media induced ventricular fibrillation during coronary angiography in dogs

This study is designed to determine which is more critical for contrast media induced ventricular fibrillation (VF), hyperosmolality or lack of sodium ions. The right coronary artery in the canine model was infused continuously with contrast media (CM) for 25 seconds or until ventricular fibrillation occurred. The test solutions included isotonic saline, 305 mg I/ml of meglumine diatrizoate, 370 mg I/ml of meglumine/Na diatrizoate and 370 mg I/ml of metrizamide. The incidence of VF with meglumine/Na diatrizoate was significantly higher than with metrizamide (p less than 0.05). These observations suggest that the hyperosmolality is more critical than the lack of sodium ions in CM when metrizamide is compared with conventional ionic CM. On the other hand, the results showing that contact time until VF was shorter with meglumine diatrizoate than with meglumine/Na diatrizoate may reflect the importance of sodium ions in CM with similar osmolality.