IV Contrast - Complications - Video Lesson

Hey, everybody. Welcome back. In this video, we'll be talking about complications related to contrast injection. The most common complication from IV contrast injection is extravasation. Extravasation is a medical term that refers to leakage of contrast or really any other fluid outside of the vessel. When this happens, it can be very uncomfortable for the patients. It may cause swelling, tightness, and a burning sensation at the site of the injection. In the image to the left, you can see a patient's elbow that was x-rayed after suspected extravasation. You can see there is a significant amount of contrast underneath the patient's skin. So what should you do if you have a patient that has experienced extravasation of contrast? There's basically three steps. One step is to inform the radiologist. This is an incident that does need to be reported. You should also instruct the patient to elevate the extremity. This encourage