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Conray (Iothalamate Meglumine Intravascular) - Summary

 
 



CONRAY SUMMARY

Conray®[IOTHALAMATE MEGLUMINE INJECTION U.S.P. 60%]

CONRAY is a sterile aqueous solution intended for use as a diagnostic radiopaque medium.

CONRAY is indicated for use in excretory urography, cerebral angiography, peripheral arteriography, venography, arthrography, direct cholangiography, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, contrast enhancement of computed tomographic brain images, cranial computerized angiotomography, intravenous digital subtraction angiography and arterial digital subtraction angiography.

CONRAY may also be used for enhancement of computed tomographic scans performed for detection and evaluation of lesions in the liver, pancreas, kidneys, abdominal aorta, mediastinum, abdominal cavity and retroperitoneal space. Continuous or multiple scans separated by intervals of 1-3 seconds during the first 30-90 seconds post-injection of the contrast medium (dynamic CT scanning) may provide enhancement of diagnostic significance, and may be of benefit in establishing diagnoses of certain lesions in these sites with greater assurance than is possible with CT alone, and in supplying additional features of the lesions. In other cases, the contrast agent may allow visualization of lesions not seen with CT alone, or may help to define suspicious lesions seen with unenhanced CT. (See CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY). Subsets of patients in whom delayed body CT scans might be helpful have not been identified. Inconsistent results have been reported and abnormal and normal tissues may be isodense during the time frame used for delayed CT scanning. The risks of such indiscriminate use of contrast media are well known and such use is not recommended. At present, consistent results have been documented using dynamic CT techniques only.


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NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Media Articles Related to Conray (Iothalamic Acid Intravascular)

APA Leaders Defend New Diagnostic Guide
Source: MedPage Today Cardiovascular [2013.05.18]
SAN FRANCISCO (MedPage Today) -- The fifth edition of the "psychiatrist's bible" was officially released here in all its 947-page glory, with its developers offering a spirited rebuttal to their critics.

Topol on Using Smartphones for Complex Diagnostic Challenges
Source: Medscape Allergy & Clinical Immunology Headlines [2013.05.15]
Eric J. Topol, MD, describes how smartphones and supercomputers will partner to help clinicians with challenging medical diagnoses and treatments.
Medscape

FDA Approves New Lung Cancer Diagnostic "Cobas EGFR Mutation Test"
Source: Cancer / Oncology News From Medical News Today [2013.05.15]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the cobas EGFR Mutation Test, a companion diagnostic for the cancer drug Tarceva (erlotinib). This is the first FDA-approved companion diagnostic that detects epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations, which are present in approximately 10 percent of non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC)...

Medical Diagnostic Device Employs Wireless Signals To Identify Brain Swelling Or Bleeding
Source: Medical Devices / Diagnostics News From Medical News Today [2013.05.15]
New technology developed at the University of California, Berkeley, is using wireless signals to provide real-time, non-invasive diagnoses of brain swelling or bleeding. The device analyzes data from low energy, electromagnetic waves, similar to the kind used to transmit radio and mobile signals...

FDA Approves Companion Genetic Diagnostic Test for Tarceva
Source: Medscape Today Headlines [2013.05.14]
The FDA has approved the first companion diagnostic test that can detect EGFR mutations in non-small cell lung cancer.
FDA Approvals

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Clinical Trials Related to Conray (Iothalamic Acid Intravascular)

Evaluation of New Test Method to Measure Kidney Function [Completed]
This study will test the accuracy of a new "Fast GFR" (glomerular filtration rate) test to evaluate kidney function. Accurate assessment of kidney function is important in many clinical situations, including detecting kidney disease early, determining appropriate drug dosages, deciding when to begin dialysis, and evaluating heart and kidney organ donors and recipients. The current GFR test is used mostly for research purposes, as it is too costly and complicated for general medical use. Another significant drawback to its use in diagnosing acute kidney failure is the time it takes (3 to 24 hours) to complete, since effective therapy for this condition requires its detection as soon as possible. The Fast GFR, by comparison, takes only 45 minutes.

Patients 6 years old and older with kidney disease or with impaired kidney function caused by abnormal heart function or swelling-from congestive heart failure, severe infections, swelling from fluid accumulation, fluid in the abdomen, or burns-may be eligible for this study. Patients will undergo both the standard and the Fast GFR tests, described below, to evaluate the accuracy of the new test.

Fast GFR: Two catheters (thin flexible tubes) are placed into two arm veins, one for injecting iothalamate-an agent commonly used in CT scanning and blood vessel imaging-and the other for collecting blood samples. Baseline blood and urine samples are collected and then 0. 5 milliliter (ml) iothalamate is injected into a vein. Blood samples are collected at 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, and 45 minutes in adults and at 5, 15, and 45 minutes in children. Urine is collected at 45 minutes. The size of the bladder is measured using ultrasound to determine if the bladder has completely emptied.

Standard GFR: Iothalamate (1 ml) is injected under the skin. Blood samples are collected at 60, 90, 120, 180 and 240 minutes. (A heparin lock is used to avoid multiple needle sticks.) Urine is collected at 60, 90, 120, 180 and 240 minutes. The size of the bladder is measured using ultrasound to determine if the bladder has completely emptied.

Kidney Disease Biomarkers [Recruiting]
Kidney Disease Biomarkers

Summary: This study will identify biomarkers (proteins and other molecules in the blood or urine) that may help scientists predict what kidney disease a patient has and whether a given patient would respond to particular therapies. The study will look for biomarkers in the blood and urine of patients with various kidney diseases and study of the effects of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) on biomarkers. Blood and urine from healthy volunteers will be studied for comparison.

Healthy people and the following patients may be eligible for this study: adults with diabetic nephropathy 18 years of age and older; children with newly diagnosed clinical idiopathic nephrotic syndrome between 2 and 18 year of age; children and adults with glomerular disease (minimal change disease, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, or collapsing glomerulopathy).

Participants undergo tests and procedures as follows:

Glomerular Disease: Adults with glomerular disease provide about four to six blood and urine samples over the course of 6 to 12 months. The samples are collected at the time of regularly scheduled visits for the NIH treatment protocol in which they are participating. Children provide only blood samples.

Chronic Kidney Disease: Patients with chronic kidney disease provide a blood and urine sample every 6 months for 3 years or more.

Angiotensin Antagonism: Patients with chronic kidney disease who are taking ACE inhibitors or ARBs stop their medicines for 4 weeks, while those who are not taking ACE inhibitors or ARBs begin one of the medicines. In general, patients just starting on the medications continue them after the study is completed, since they are beneficial for chronic kidney disease.

- Medication withdrawal group: Patients come to NIH for 2 successive days at the

beginning of the study for blood and urine tests (including one 24-hour urine collection) and to receive iothalamate (a chemical used to measure kidney function). Iothalamate is delivered over 24 hours through a needle placed in the abdomen (or elsewhere) via a pump similar to pumps that some diabetics use to deliver insulin. Patients then stop taking their ACE inhibitor or ARB medication. They monitor their blood pressure every day and return to NIH after 1, 2 and 4 weeks for blood tests. During week 4, the iothalamate infusion is repeated, and blood and urine samples are collected as at the beginning of the study. Patients then resume taking their ACE inhibitor or ARB once a day with the dose being increased at 2-week intervals. They come to NIH weekly after 1 week and then every other week for blood tests. Four weeks after reaching the highest FDA-recommended dose of medication tolerated, the iothalamate infusion and blood and urine collections are repeated.

- Medication induction group: At the beginning of the study, patients have the

iothalamate infusion and blood and urine collections described above and then begin to take either an ACE inhibitor or ARB. The dose is increased after 2 weeks. Patients monitor their blood pressure every day. After being on the highest dose for 4 weeks, patients repeat the iothalamate infusion and blood and urine collections. The study is then complete and they are provided a 2-month supply of medicine to take home.

Information is gathered on symptoms, treatments, and results of past laboratory tests of all patients. Healthy volunteers provide blood and urine sample collections every month or every other month for up to four collections to be used for biomarker studies and the screen for common chronic diseases.

The Comparison of Tacrolimus and Sirolimus Immunosuppression Based Drug Regimens in Kidney Transplant Recipients [Recruiting]
This study is being done to find out which treatment, tacrolimus or sirolimus, leads to better long-term kidney function.

Pilot Study of Mycophenolate Mofetil in Congenital Uropathies [Completed]
Congenital or hereditary structural anomalies of the genitourinary tract account for approximately half of all cases of end stage renal disease in the pediatric population. Despite optimal medical management, when the GFR falls below 50 ml/min/1. 73 M2, nearly 40% of affected children will require dialysis or a renal transplant within 2 years. At present, there is no specific treatment for patients with congenital uropathies that can retard the progressive loss of kidney function and forestall the need for renal replacement therapy.

There is evidence in experimental animals and in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) that immunoeffector mechanisms are activated within the renal parenchyma. Infiltration of the kidney by macrophages, monocytes, and lymphocytes, activation of renal tubular epithelial cells, and release of pro-inflammatory cytokines result in fibrosis and irreversible organ damage.

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) is a new immunosuppressive agent that is used to prevent acute rejection in kidney transplant recipients. It attenuates renal damage in the remnant kidney model of CRF in which there is no primary immunological injury. Therefore, this pilot study is designed to test the hypothesis that immunosuppressive treatment with MMF in children with structural causes of CRF will be safely tolerated and that this therapy will retard progressive decline in renal function.

Patients with congenital uropathy, 3-16 years of age and with a GFR less than 50 ml/ml/1. 73 M2, will be treated with MMF for 24 months. The two primary endpoints are: (1) safety and tolerance of the drug; and (2) need for dialysis or kidney transplantation. It is anticipated that the MMF will be free of significant toxicity and that administration of the drug will reduce the frequency of progression to end stage renal disease from 38% to 19%. Patients will be followed at 3-month intervals and they will undergo serial assessment of proteinuria, estimated GFR and iothalamate clearance, urinary cytokine excretion, urine flow cytometry, and immunologic testing.

The significance of this pilot study is that it may provide evidence in support of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of immunological treatment of congenital structural causes of CRF in children

Pilot Study of Rapamycin as Treatment for Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD) [Not yet recruiting]
This study is a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical trial designed to compare the effects of an agent that has antiproliferative (1,2), antiangiogenesis (3),and tumor-progression blocking capabilities (4), namely, rapamycin (RapamuneŽ), in the treatment of autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD).

Up to this time, only generic renal disease treatments for ADPKD have been in use, such as the treatment of hypertension, urinary tract infections, renal stones, renal call carcinomas, and replacement therapy with dialysis and/or renal transplantation. The fundamental aberrations in ADPKD are proliferation of cyst-forming tubuloepithelial cells, secretion of cytokine-rich fluid into those cysts, and progressive cyst expansion and release of inflammatory mediators that injure surrounding normal renal tissue. Consequently, therapy directed specifically at blocking the proliferation of tubuloepithelial cells and their tendency to malignant transformation, as well as impeding their blood supply, should have obvious merit.

General Procedures:

In Group I participants will have an iothalamate glomerular filtration rate (GFR) equal to or greater than 60 ml/min/1. 73 m2, and in Group II participants will have a GFR less than 25-59 ml/min/1. 73 m2. Both males and females with ADPKD who volunteer and qualify, will be randomly and prospectively assigned to treatment with rapamycin at either a high or low trough blood level or to standard care (each 1/3 of enrolled patients) for one year. The two treatment groups will receive rapamycin doses aimed at maintaining the 20- to 24-hour trough blood levels at either 2 to 5 ng/mL (low-dose), or greater than 5 to 8 ng/mL (high-dose). These trough levels are in the lower range of levels used when treating renal transplant recipients in whom trough levels are typically maintained between 5 and 15 ng/mL.

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Page last updated: 2013-05-18

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