Comparison of iodized oil with soluble iodized agents in hysterosalpingography and the evaluation of modified hysterosalpingography

Objective To discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the iodized oil,diatrizoate and non-ionic iohexol used as contrast media in performing hysterosalpingography and to evaluate the modified hysterosalpingography in clinical practice.Methods Patients who were scheduled to receive hysterosalpingography were randomly selected and divided into three conventional groups:iodized oil group,diatrizoate group and iohexol group,with 100 cases in each group.Another 100 cases(modified group) were examined with modified hysterosalpingographic technique by using iohexol as contrast medium.During the procedure and after the hysterosalpingography all the patients were carefully observed.The image quality,the fallopian tube patent rate,the incidence of abdominal pain,clinical safety,etc.were documented and the results were compared among groups.The advantages of modified hysterosalpingographic technique were analyzed.Results No significant difference in image quality and the fallopian tube patent rate existed among the three conventional groups.The occurrence of abdominal pain in iohexol group was significantly lower than that in both iodized oil group and diatrizoate group(χ2 = 10.54,P 0.01).The image quality in modified group was the best.Conclusion In performing hysterosalpingography,the use of iohexol,a non-ionic contrast medium,can provide high-quality images with reliable clinical safety,therefore,iohexol should be regarded as the contrast medium of first choice.The image quality can be further improved and the radiation dose can be effectively reduced if modified manipulation is employed.