The Extra-renal Excretion of Diatrizoate in Renal Failure

Extra-renal excretion of diatrizoate has been demonstrated radiographically both in the rat and in patients with severe renal disease. Hepatic excretion in the bile is probably the chief source of the diatrizoate appearing in the stool which was found to be up to 20 per cent of the injected dose in 48 hours by radioisotope studies using 131I diatrizoate. The presence of an extra-renal excretory pathway may encourage radiologists to perform procedures involving the use of diatrizoate contrast media where these are likely to be of value in the presence of very severe renal failure and even anuria.