Critical Assessment of Myelography Practices: A Call for Rational Guideline Revision.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Patient preparation for myelography and postprocedural monitoring varies widely between practices, despite published guidelines. Our aim was to examine the current practice variations in discontinuing reportedly seizure threshold-lowering medications before myelography and to assess the reported incidence of postmyelographic seizures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An e-mail survey was sent to American Society of Neuroradiology members concerning the number of postmyelographic seizures experienced in the past 5 years, the presence of an institutional policy for discontinuing seizure threshold-lowering medications, and the type of myelographic contrast used. We compared the postmyelographic seizure frequency in the responses. RESULTS: Of 700 survey responses, 57% reported that they do not discontinue seizure threshold-lowering medications before myelography. Most (97%) indicated never having a patient experience a seizure following myelography. The number of postmyelographic seizures between those who discontinue seizure threshold-lowering medications and those who do not was not statistically significant (OR = 2.13; 95% CI, 0.91-4.98; P = .08). Most (95%) reported using nonionic hypo-osmolar agents. CONCLUSIONS: Survey results revealed widely variable practices for patient myelography preparation and postprocedural monitoring. We found no difference in reported seizures between those who discontinued seizure threshold-lowering medications and those who did not. In light of our findings, we propose that discontinuing reportedly seizure threshold-lowering medications is not warranted with the current nonionic water-soluble contrast agents and may be potentially harmful in some instances. This work supports revision of existing recommendations to withhold such medications before myelography.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Shah, LM; Kranz, PG; Anzai, Y; Hutchins, TA; Gibbs, WN; Pierson, N; Aldred, BW; Wiggins, RH

Published Date

  • December 2018

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 39 / 12

Start / End Page

  • 2378 - 2384

PubMed ID

  • 30385469

Pubmed Central ID

  • PMC7655379

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1936-959X

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.3174/ajnr.A5867

Language

  • eng

Conference Location

  • United States