Glucagon and infusion cholangiography

Abstract It has been previously suggested that glucagon improves the bile duct and gall-bladder opacification obtained by infusion cholangiography. One hundred and ninety consecutive patients referred for intravenous cholangiography were entered into a double-blind study designed to see if glucagon would in fact significantly improve bile duct opacification. All patients received a one hour intravenous infusion of iotroxamide at a rate of 3.15 mg/kg body weight/min. Glucagon did not enhance bile duct opacification, the mean post-injection scores for the two groups being 2.47±1.11 and 2.29±1.15 respectively. On the basis of the present study we cannot recommend the routine use of glucagon following infusion cholangiography.