Abstract
During coronary angiography the exchange of blood with a contrast medium solution causes a period of hypoxia. To investigate whether oxygen saturation of the contrast medium could be beneficial, low osmolar contrast media were infused without and with oxygen saturation into the coronary arteries of the isolated rabbit heart. Iohexol (150–300 mg I/ml, without NaCl or with 20–30 mM NaCl), iodixanol (320 mg I/ml, contains 24 mM NaCl) and ioxaglate (160 mg I/ml, contains 75 mM Na+) were infused without and with oxygen saturation. The decrease in contractile force (CF) of the heart, from the contrast medium solutions, was reduced when the solutions were saturated with oxygen. Oxygen saturation of iohexol (350 mg I/ml, without or with 10 mM NaCl) did not change the frequency of ventricular fibrillations (VF). Low osmolar contrast media, when saturated with oxygen, thus caused a reduced decrease in CF without changing the frequency of VF. This might be beneficial in clinical cardioangiography by reducing the adverse effects from the media.