A novel food-based negative oral contrast agent compared with two conventional oral contrast agents in abdominal CT: a three-arm parallel blinded randomised controlled single-centre trial

BACKGROUND: A negative oral contrast agent (OCA) has been long sought for, to better delineate the bowel and visualise surrounding structures. Lumentin® 44 (L44) is a new OCA formulated to fill the entire small bowel. The aim of this study was to compare L44 with positive and neutral conventional OCA in abdominal computed tomography (CT). METHODS: Forty-five oncologic patients were randomised to receive either L44 or one of the two comparators (MoviPrep® or diluted Omnipaque®). Abdominal CT examinations with intravenous contrast agent were acquired according to standard protocols. The studies were read independently by two senior radiologists. RESULTS: The mean intraluminal Hounsfield units (HU)-values of regions-of-interest (ROIs) for each subsegment of small bowel and treatment group were -404.0 HU for L44, 166.1 HU for Omnipaque®, and 16.7 HU for MoviPrep® (L44 versus Omnipaque, p < 0.001: L44 versus MoviPrep p < 0.001; Omnipaque versus MoviPrep, p = 0.003). Adverse events, only mild, using L44 were numerically fewer than for using conventional oral contrast agents. Visualisation of abdominal structures beyond the small bowel was similar to the comparators. CONCLUSIONS: L44 is a negative OCA with luminal radiodensity at approximately -400 HU creating a unique small bowel appearance on CT scans. The high bowel wall-to-lumen contrast may enable improved visualisation in a range of pathologic conditions. L44 showed a good safety profile and was well accepted by patients studied. TRIAL REGISTRATION: EudraCT (2017-002368-42) and in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03326518). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s41747-022-00267-z.