Changes in left ventricular (LV) diastolic indices after left ventriculography (LVG) with iopamidol or urografin were studied in 42 subjects. Increase in heart rate and decrease in LV systolic pressure were more significant with urografin than with iopamidol (p less than 0.05 to 0.001). LV end-diastolic pressure was elevated more with urografin than with iopamidol (p less than 0.005 to 0.05) 1 to 3 minutes after LVG. LV peak negative dP/dt decreased significantly with urografin immediately (10 to 15 seconds, -511 and 30 seconds, -376 mm Hg/sec; p less than 0.0005 to 0.02), but with iopamidol it did not decrease significantly after LVG. Time constant, T, was elongated with iopamidol (10 to 15 seconds, +13 and 30 seconds, +6 msec; p less than 0.0005), but this elongation was significantly less than urografin (10 to 15 seconds, +34; 30 seconds, +25; 1 minute, +15; and 2 minutes, +10 msec; p less than 0.05 to 0.0005). We conclude that iopamidol disturbed LV diastolic function to a lesser degree than did urografin.