Of 1500 myelographies, 99 patients had subsequent myelographies from which the prevalence of adhesive arachnoiditis caused by the initial investigation could be calculated. Three different water-soluble contrast agents had been used in the initial study: Kontrast U (800 patients), Dimer-X (400 patients), and Conray (300 patients) and the subsets of patients restudied represented 6%, 8% and 8% respectively of the whole series. After the first myelography 68 patients had no operation, 31 patients had hemilaminectomy. Conray produced arachnoid changes in 71% of the nonoperated patients. This differed significantly from the 43% caused by Kontrast U, and the 27% evoked by Dimer-X. The same trend was evident in the operated subset. The severity of the arachnoid changes was greater after Conray. Analysis of the iodine content of the different contrast media and comparison with similar series suggested that hyperosmolarity of the agent was responsible for the changes.