Contrast Media: Oral & IV

Oral Contrast:

While many radiologists administer oral contrast only to patients with known intra-abdominal masses, we have found it a valuable practice to give all our patients 32 ounces of an oral contrast “cocktail” upon arrival for their scans.

Our Cocktail:  [Fig. 1]

• 50 ml bottle of Omnipaque (240mg/ml)
• 160 ounces of water
• Serves 5 patients (32 oz. each)

Intravenous Contrast:

Intravenous contrast is almost never administered for the CT portion of the exam. Even the great majority of hospital-based practices rarely inject IV contrast for a PET/CT scan.

A small minority of radiology practices, however, do advocate intravenous contrast administration for head and neck cancer patients undergoing PET/CT scanning (discussed here).