Water as neutral oral contrast agent in abdominopelvic CT: comparing effectiveness with Gastrografin in the same patient
- Author:
Chau Hung Lee
;
Han Zi Gu
;
Balamurugan A Vellayappan
;
Cher Heng Tan
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Computed Tomography;
Oral Contrast;
Small Intestine;
Gastrografin;
Water
- From:
The Medical Journal of Malaysia
2016;71(6):322-327
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Introduction: Positive oral contrast is no longer deemed
necessary for abdominopelvic computed tomography (CT)
scans. Studies have shown water to be an equally effective
oral contrast agent. However, to our knowledge no study has
compared effectiveness between gastrografin and water in
the same patient, which will provide a more objective
evaluation of the two oral contrast agents. We aim to make a
head-to-head comparison of water as neutral oral contrast
(OC) against gastrografin as positive OC for abdominopelvic
CT scans in the same patient.
Methods: A retrospective review of 206 abdominopelvic CT
scans of 103 patients was performed. The scans were
reviewed in consensus by two blinded radiologists. The
ability to visualise each abdominopelvic organ, contrastassociated
artefacts and small bowel wall delineation, was
qualitatively scored on a 5-point scale. Each patient had two
sets of scores, one with water and another with gastrografin
as OC. Paired scores from the two OCs were evaluated by
Wilcoxon signed rank test to determine any significant
difference in performance between the two OCs for
visualisation of abdominopelvic anatomy on CT.
Results: There was significantly better delineation of
duodenal wall (p<0.001) and overall visualisation of the
duodenum (p=0.011) using water as OC compared to
gastrografin. No statistically significant differences were
demonstrated between water and gastrografin for
visualisation of the rest of the abdominopelvic organs, walldelineation
of the rest small bowel and contrast-associated
artefacts.
Conclusions: Water can be used in place of gastrografin as
oral contrast in abdominopelvic CT without compromising
visualization of abdominopelvic organs.
- Full text:P020170208405367577659.pdf
