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Objective To evaluate the relaxation rates and imaging effects of three MRI contrast agents gadopentetate dimeglumine(0.5 mol/L),gadodiamine and gadovist(1.0 mol/L) in the nervous system.Methods Relaxation rate differences between the three contrast agents were assessed using the GE Signa HDx 3.0 T MR scanner and phantom solutions of different albumin concentrations.Twenty leukemia patients whose initial scans had been conducted with the injection of a standard dose(0.5 mol/L)of gadopentetate dimeglumine as the contrast agent were recalled to have a follow-up scan for signs of brain infections with the same imaging protocols,except that a high concentration(1.0 mol/L)gadovist was used this time as the contrast agent.CNR and SNR in the ROI were measured for quantitative analysis.Results Changes in dosage of the three contrast agents produced no difference in intensity of the image signal for each phantom solution of a specific albumin concentration(5.0 g/L:P=0.35,6.5g/L:P =0.27,8.0 g/L:P=0.23).Two sets of scans of the leukemia patients showed that high concentration(1.0 mol/L)gadovist generated higher SNR and CNR in the ROI of the white matter,gray matter and vasculature than standard concentration(0.5 mol/L) gadopentetate dimeglumine(P＜ 0.05).Conclusions A half dose of high concentration(1.0 mol/L) gadovist generates better imaging enhancement than standard concentration(0.5 mol/L)gadopentetate dimegluminethe.Gadopentetate dimeglumine,gadodiamide and gadovist have no significant difference in relaxation rate.
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OBJECTIVE: To compare the effect of imaging time delay on the MR detection of intracerebral metastases using single dose gadobutrol. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-one patients with intracerebral metastases underwent contrast-enhanced MR with three-dimensional T1-weighted sequence at 1 minute, 5 minutes and 10 minutes after a single dose injection of gadobutrol. One hundred index metastatic lesions (1 to 30 mm; median, 7 mm) were chosen for the analysis. For the qualitative analysis, lesion conspicuity were assessed on a 1 (worst) to 5 (best) scale of the index lesions by an expert reader. For the quantitative analysis, signal intensity (SI) of enhancing lesions and normal parenchyma was measured to determine the contrast rate (CR, %) ([postcontrast SI lesion - postcontrast SI white matter] x 100 / postcontrast SI white matter) and the enhancement rate (ER, %) ([postcontrast SI lesion - baseline SI gray matter] x 100 / baseline SI gray matter). Statistical comparisons were made between three different time delays. RESULTS: Lesion conspicuity did not differ significantly among the three time delays (p = 0.097). Although the SI, CR and ER of lesions did not reveal any significant difference between 1 minute and 5 minutes delayed images, both the 1 minute and 5 minutes delayed images showed significantly higher CRs of lesions compared with the 10 minutes delayed images (p = 0.004 and p = 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSION: With single dose gadobutrol, imaging time delay did not have an effect on lesion conspicuity. Both 1-minute and 5-minute-delayed imaging after gadobutrol injection appears to be effective for the detection of intracerebral metastases.