Ethiodized Oil: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Ethiodized Oil is a medicine sold in the U.S. under one brand. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Available as
- Injectable
- Sold as
- Lipiodol
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
- Boxed warning
- Boxed warning
How ethiodized oil is dosed
From the FDA label for Lipiodol (application NDA009190). Other ethiodized oil products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Use a disposable syringe to draw and inject Lipiodol. Hysterosalpingography Inject increments of 2 mL of Lipiodol into the endometrial cavity until tubal patency is determined; stop the injection if the patient develops excessive discomfort. Inject with radiologic monitoring. Lymphography Inject Lipiodol into a lymphatic vessel with radiologic monitoring. Adults: unilateral lymphography of the upper extremities: 2 to 4 mL unilateral lymphography of the lower extremities: 6 to 8 mL penile lymphography: 2 to 3 mL cervical lymphography: 1 to 2 mL Pediatric patients: Inject a minimum of 1 mL to a maximum of 6 mL according to the anatomical area to be visualized. Do not exceed 0.25 mL/kg. Selective Hepatic Intra-arterial Use Inject 1.5 to 15 mL of Lipiodol slowly under continuous radiologic monitoring. Do not exceed 20 mL total dosage. 2.1 Dosing Guidelines Draw Lipiodol into a disposable syringe. Use the smallest possible amount of Lipiodol according to the anatomical area to be visualized. Hysterosalpingography Using aseptic technique inject Lipiodol into the endometrial cavity with fluoroscopic control. Inject increments of 2 mL of Lipiodol until tubal patency is determined; stop the injection if patient develops excessive discomfort. The total volume to be injected depends on the volume of the uterine cavity, usually not exceeding 15 mL. A 24-hour image can be obtained if,…
Ethiodized Oil side effects
Adverse reactions caused by Lipiodol include hypersensitivity reactions, pulmonary embolism, pulmonary dysfunction, exacerbation of liver disease, procedural complications, abdominal pain, fever, nausea, vomiting, and thyroid dysfunction. To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact GUERBET LLC at 1-877-729-6679 or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch 6.2 Postmarketing Experience The following adverse reactions (Table 1) have been identified during post approval use of Lipiodol. Because these reactions are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not always possible to reliably estimate their frequency or establish a causal relationship to drug exposure. The following adverse reactions are described in more detail in other sections of the prescribing information: Pulmonary and cerebral embolism [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.1 ) ] Hypersensitivity reactions [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.2 ) ] Exacerbation of chronic liver disease [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.3 ) ] Thyroid dysfunction [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.4 ) ]. Thyroid dysfunction in the mother and the infant of a subsequent pregnancy [See Use in Specific Populations ( 8.1 )] Table 1: Adverse Reactions in the Postmarketing Experience System Organ Class Adverse Reaction Eye disorders retinal vein thrombosis General disorders and administration site conditions fever,…
Who shouldn’t take ethiodized oil
Lipiodol is contraindicated in patients with hypersensitivity to Lipiodol, hyperthyroidism, traumatic injuries, recent hemorrhage or bleeding. Hysterosalpingography Lipiodol hysterosalpingography is contraindicated in pregnancy, acute pelvic inflammatory disease, marked cervical erosion, endocervicitis and intrauterine bleeding, in the immediate pre-or postmenstrual phase, and within 30 days of curettage or conization or patients with known or suspected reproductive tract neoplasia due to the risk of peritoneal spread of neoplasm. [see Use in Specific Populations ( 8.1 ) . ] Lymphography Lipiodol Lymphography is contraindicated in patients with a right to left cardiac shunt, advanced pulmonary disease, tissue trauma or hemorrhage advanced neoplastic disease with expected lymphatic obstruction, previous surgery interrupting the lymphatic system, radiation therapy to the examined area. Selective Hepatic Intra-arterial Use Patients with HCC Lipiodol use is contraindicated in areas of the liver where the bile ducts are dilated unless external biliary drainage was performed before injection. Hypersensitivity to Lipiodol, hyperthyroidism, traumatic injuries, recent hemorrhage or bleeding. Lipiodol Hysterosalpingography is contraindicated in: pregnancy, acute pelvic inflammatory disease, marked cervical erosion, endocervicitis and intrauterine bleeding, in the immediate pre-or postmenstrual phase, and within 30 days of curettage or conization or patients with known or suspected reproductive tract neoplasia due to the risk of peritoneal spread of neoplasm. Lipiodol Lymphography is contraindicated in: right to left cardiac shunt, advanced pulmonary disease, tissue trauma or hemorrhage, advanced neoplastic disease with expected lymphatic obstruction, previous surgery interrupting the lymphatic system, or radiation therapy to the examined area. Lipiodol Selective Hepatic Intra-arterial Injection is contraindicated in: the presence of dilated bile ducts unless external biliary drainage was performed before injection.
Ethiodized Oil drug interactions
Lipiodol may interfere with thyroid function testing and with radioactive iodine uptake by the thyroid tissue during diagnostic or therapeutic procedures. ( 7.1 ) 7.1 Interference with Iodine-Based Diagnostic Tests and Iodine-Based Radiotherapy Following Lipiodol administration, ethiodized oil remains in the body for several months. Ethiodized oil interferes with radioactive iodine uptake by the thyroid for several weeks to months may impair visualization of thyroid scintigraphy and reduce effectiveness of iodine 131 treatment.
Every ethiodized oil product we track (1)
Same active ingredient — different manufacturer, form, price and FDA recall record. That last one is what our independent score measures.
Only one: Lipiodol.
What people report to the FDA about ethiodized oil
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 266 reports naming ethiodized oil, and the FDA flagged 99% of those reports as serious. The effects reported most often — leaving out reports about overdose, misuse or the condition being treated, which dominate the raw list for common medicines:
- pancytopenia25 reports
- liver abscess24 reports
- metastases to central nervous system14 reports
- metastases to liver13 reports
- skin injury13 reports
- pancreatic carcinoma metastatic12 reports
- alanine aminotransferase increased11 reports
- aspartate aminotransferase increased11 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean ethiodized oil caused the effect — anyone can file one, and many describe people taking several medicines for several conditions. Crucially there is no denominator: FAERS does not record how many people took the drug, so these counts cannot be turned into “X% of patients” — a bigger number often just means a more widely used or more talked-about drug. Duplicates exist, and publicity drives reporting. For what is actually established, read the FDA label section above.
Source: openFDA drug/event (FAERS), retrieved July 25, 2026.
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Frequently asked questions
What is ethiodized oil?
Lipiodol, ethiodized oil injection, is a sterile injectable radio-opaque agent. Each milliliter contains 480 mg of Iodine organically combined with ethyl esters of fatty acids of poppy seed oil. The precise structure of Lipiodol is unknown. Lipiodol is a sterile, clear, pale yellow to amber colored oil. Lipiodol has a viscosity of 34 – 70 mPa·s at 20°C, and a density of 1.28 g/cm 3 at 20°C.
Can you take ethiodized oil with other medicines?
It depends on the medicine. We check it against the FDA labels rather than guessing: our interaction checker searches each drug's own label for the other and quotes what it says, naming the section it came from. Run ethiodized oil against whatever else you take — and remember that a label not naming a drug is not the same as that combination being safe.
What forms does ethiodized oil come in?
Across the brands we track, ethiodized oil is currently marketed as injectable, per the FDA's National Drug Code Directory. Each form is dosed differently — follow the label for the exact product you were prescribed.
Is there a generic ethiodized oil?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled ethiodized oil product. That does not always mean none exists — it means none appears under a generic name in the FDA data we track. Ask your pharmacist.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Ethiodized Oil: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/ethiodized-oil
- MLA
- “Ethiodized Oil: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/ethiodized-oil.
We summarise public FDA and NIH sources — for a clinical claim, cite the primary source we link to as well.
Sources: FDA openFDA drug label, National Drug Code Directory, and Enforcement (recall) database. This page reproduces public FDA data and is not medical advice. Dosing is set by your prescriber.
Read the full FDA label for ethiodized oil on DailyMed (NIH) ↗ — including its boxed warning in full.