What are the risks of having dye ran in your spine for a ct scan?

[Jen8582]

My mom has digenerative disc disease and has been in the hospital for 1 week in severe pain and the surgeon wants to do a ct scan using dye before he decides to do surgery.She is very obese and will not fit into an mri and the hospital is not equipped with an open mri.This is the only option.I would greatly appreciate all information on this.

[Heather3017]

The only real risk would be if she was allergic to the dye. If she is allergic to shellfish then it very likely she would have a reaction to the dye. If she has kidney failure as well there is a small risk. Sedation is always a concern (just like if you were put to sleep to get your teeth pulled) but generally this is a safe procedure. She should be just fine