Hi had a quick question. Someone I know recently had a chest x-ray which showed a shadow. The doc has advised a CT scan with Iodine dye as a contrast medium. The person has a history or recurring kidney infections and pain.
My question is this.......has this medication been shown to be a succesfull nephroprotective agent?..........can and should the scan be carried out without the dye?.........and if anyone can shed any light on the safest way to have this done or perhaps an alternative?
I look forward to your professional judgments in this matter.
In the old days iodised poppy seed oil was used. Older still was Thorotrast which was a thorium salt injected. Excellent, 20 years later many pts got cancer as thorium stayed in system.
What is used today?
johnep
Contrast media can lead to acute renal failure that may occasionally require hemodialysis . Prophylactic acetylcysteine better in preventing the reduction in renal function induced by a contrast dye.
Studies were done on people with CKD and both positive and negative outcomes were reported.
We don't know the state of your friend's kidney function (you just spoken about infections and pain). I wish him all the best as I have a bad feeling about it.
Hi...he had the test and it didnt go well at all. According to the doctor "he became unresponsive and had what resembled a small seizure" after administration of the dye. He was rushed to the A&E department after coming around, and was put on a drip. He was discharged a few hours later. Next day he was taken to hospital with numbness and pain in all 4 limbs and a tight throat with difficulty breathing. A&E did blood tests and found signs of possible kidney infection and a Viral infection!! Now its a wait for the GP to see what is to be done. Is it just me, or do doctors seem to not give a damn anymore and have an arrogance about them if u question anything they say? from my experience it is clear they have little or no no knowledge of drug actions and interactions what so ever. By the way, this person was also give Tamiflu and Amoxycillin 3 weeks prior as was suspected to have swine flu (but didnt!!)
I,m so angry right now.....I think doctors should have more pharmaceutical knowledge before they are allowed registration with the GMC. (And medicine is very easy to study...I did the first year at university and got 86% overall.....but decided to pursue pharmacy as it is a course that is actually challenging).
Kidney disease can increase your risk for developing an allergic reaction to dye contrast. Unfortunately, no test are available to check whether a patient will react to the dye. Your friend has been unfortunate and had an anaphylactic shock obviously. You should refocus on how to find more about what causing the lung's shadow and the state of his immune system.
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