Cholecystography: Oral Administration of Sodium Tetraiodophenolphthalein

Soon after we had demonstrated that the gallbladder could be made opaque to the roentgen ray by intravenous injection of various derivatives of phenolphthalein, experiments were begun to determine whether it would not be possible to obtain shadows of the gallbladder after oral administration of these compounds. The oral route offered not only simplicity of administration, but also the avoidance of occasional severe reactions to the intravenous injection of halogenated phenolphthaleins, which a few of our patients were having at that time. Although the reactions to intravenous injection of sodium tetraiodophenolphthalein, which we are using for cholecystography, 1 are few and of no moment, we have continued oral administration of this compound with increasing satisfaction. Similarly, other workers have had good results from oral administration of these substances. Menees and Robinson 2 report a series of thirty-two patients who had cholecystograms made after oral administration of sodium tetrabromphenolphthalein in capsules,