Incidence of fibrillation with dilute contrast media for intra-arterial coronary digital subtraction angiography.
State-of-the-art imaging technology such as digital subtraction angiography can produce coronary artery opacification with contrast media formulations that contain less than 170 mgI/ml. We examined the effect of electrolyte composition in such formulations on the incidence of fibrillation. Right coronary injections of contrast were made for 25 seconds in anesthetized dogs. This injection is longer than clinical injections, but the model approximates the worst condition of a wedged catheter preventing media washout. Formulations of several mixtures of meglumine and sodium diatrizoate (173 to 141 mgI/ml) and sodium diatrizoate alone (143 mgI/ml) produced fibrillation in only 10 to 20% of the injections. Meglumine diatrizoate (141 mgI/ml) and full strength meglumine/sodium diatrizoate (Angiovist 370) produced fibrillation in 100% and 50% of the injections, respectively. These animal studies demonstrate that dilute contrast media containing few or no sodium ions are more likely to induce fibrillation than Angiovist 370, whereas dilute contrast media containing sodium are the least likely to induce fibrillation.