A 48-year-old member asked:
Do you need to take gastrografin for a barium enema?
1 doctor answer • 2 doctors weighed in
Dr. Frank Welteanswered
Radiology 18 years experience
Depends: Most commonly, barium is administered into the rectum (along with air) for barium enema.
If there is suspicion of bowel perforation, water soluble gastrografin is used instead. Gastrografin is hyperosmolar and can cause fluid shifts (fluid moves from the blood to the GI tract) and should be used with caution in hemodynamically unstable patients.
Colon is then imaged with x-rays/fluoroscopy.
3k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
Last updated Mar 5, 2018
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