ABSTRACT
The intravascular uro-angiographic contrast agent uroselectan sodium and its close follower methiodal sodium, together with printed package inserts, scientific publications containing radiological illustrations, numerical data and evaluations of product performance by practitioners, are some of the artifacts attesting the arrival of a new technology, namely contrast agents for excretion urography. The social processes of technology genesis that led to the knowledge embodied in uro-angiographic contrast agents involved, in decisive steps, actors representing a variety of professions and organizational positions. The uro-angiographic contrast agents based on iodinated water-soluble organic compounds constituted a suitable solution to widely perceived medical needs. Uro-angiographic contrast agents, as an application class of products, entered the technology-shaping phase in temporal overlap with the development of the prototypes, uroselectan sodium, and methiodal sodium, that is, before the clinical and economic worthiness of the technology had been fully established.
