Anyone have a sense how much difference the contrast makes in a scan? Due to some allergic reactions despite premeds, they are doing mom's next CT without contrast.
Anyone ever look into which dye they reacted to? I'm gathering that the more expensive kind is less prone to allergy:
1: Allergy Asthma Proc. 2005 May-Jun;26(3):199-203.
Links
Anaphylactoid reactions to radiocontrast media.
Canter LM.
Harvard Medical School, Tosteson Medical Education Center, MA 02115, USA.
As the role for diagnostic and therapeutic contrast-enhanced imaging increases, review of the epidemiology, mechanisms, risk factors, and pretreatment for radiocontrast-mediated anaphylactoid reactions becomes more and more pertinent. Ongoing research has failed to elucidate the precise mechanisms of both early and late reactions, though the current data point to a multifactorial pathogenesis.
The risk of reactions has decreased over time as contrast media have evolved from ionic, high-osmolality to nonionic, low-osmolality formulations; however, the expense of the low-osmolality agents limit their universal use. Today, 1-12% of patients exhibit adverse responses ranging from mild to severe, with individual risk depending on the type of contrast administered and certain baseline patient characteristics. For those high-risk patients who must receive contrast, effective pret