Risk of thromboembolism during diagnostic and interventional cardiac procedures with nonionic contrast media

To investigate the relationship between clot formation and thromboembolism, canine blood was withdrawn into catheter-syringe or catheter-steerable wire systems containing either contrast medium or normal saline as used in debubbling techniques. The contrast media used were iohexol, iopamidol, ioxaglate, and diatrizoate. Without the use of heparin, after a 30-minute incubation, blood clots were harvested from all catheter-syringe systems except those with diatrizoate and from all catheter-steerable wire systems. Significantly more blood clot was harvested from the catheter-steerable wire system. With use of heparinized blood, no clot was found in any system. Twelve dogs that underwent coronary angiography were divided into two groups; one received heparin (5,000 IU) and the other did not. Thromboembolism occurred in all nonheparinized dogs that underwent angiography with iohexol or iopamidol but not in any other group. The authors found that in a dog model nonionic contrast media are more thrombogenic than ionic contrast media, especially in the catheter-steerable wire system. The blood clot in the catheters is associated with thromboembolism during angiography. The authors maintain that in this setting, blood clotting and thromboembolism with nonionic agents can be eliminated with heparin.