MONDAY, Mar. 2 (HealthDay News) -- In the pediatric population, the administration of nonionic intravenous contrast material (ioversol) is safe and only rarely is associated with adverse reactions, according to research published in the March issue of Radiology.
Michael J. Callahan, M.D., of Children's Hospital Boston, and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of data in 12,494 patients aged 21 and younger -- including 6,600 boys and 5,894 girls -- who received ioversol contrast material.
The researchers identified 57 adverse events -- 47 mild, 10 moderate and none severe -- related to nonionic iodinated intravenous contrast material. They found that the incidence rate was 0.46 percent, or one in every 200 patients. They also found that the average age of patients with a contrast material reaction was 3.4 years older than the average age of the study population (12.9 versus 9.5).
"In conclusion, although adverse reactions are an unavoidable complication in the administration of intravenous contrast material in any patient population, we have shown that within a predominantly pediatric population, patient age is an important predictor of the relative risk of an allergic reaction to ioversol. The incidence of contrast material reactions (per 1000 studies) is lower in children, particularly young children, than the reported incidence in adults," the authors write. "There should be little hesitation to administer nonionic contrast material to pediatric patients when contrast material is believed to be clinically appropriate."
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