Relationship between contrast medium dose and adverse effects in lumbar myelography

In a prospective double-blind randomized study involving 40 patients undergoing lumbar myelography, an attempt was made to correlate adverse effects of the examination with contrast medium dosage. Metrizamide for myelography is dispensed in two dosage aliquots, 3.75 and 6.75 g. In one group of 20 patients (10 males and 10 females) the higher dose was utilized routinely, in a second similar group the lower dose. 24 h after myelography complaints of headache were noted in 9 out of 40 patients; nausea, sometimes with vomiting, in 3 out of 40, and giddiness or light-headedness in 6 out of 40. No other side effects were registered. Complaints after myelography occurred significantly more often in females than in males, but there was no correlation between the incidence of complaints and the dose of metrizamide administered.