RESUMO
MRI is a powerful and non-invasive method to follow the fate of oral drug delivery systems in humans. Until now, most MRI studies focused on monolithic dosage forms (tablets and capsules). Small-sized multi-particulate drug delivery systems are very difficult to detect due to the poor differentiation between the delivery system and the food. A new approach was developed to overcome the described difficulties and permit the selective imaging of small multi-particulate dosage forms within the stomach. We took advantage of the different sensitivities to susceptibility artefacts of T(2)-weighted spin-echo sequences and T(2)-weighted gradient echo pulse sequences. Using a combination of both methods within a breath hold followed by a specific mathematical image analysis involving co-registration, motion correction, voxel-by-voxel comparison of the maps from different pulse sequences and graphic 2D-/3D-presentation, we were able to obtain pictures with a high sensitivity due to susceptibility effects caused by a 1% magnetite load. By means of the new imaging sequence, single pellets as small as 1mm can be detected with high selectivity within surrounding heterogeneous food in the human stomach. The developed method greatly expands the use of MRI to study the fate of oral multi-particulate drug delivery systems and their food dependency in men.
Assuntos
Formas de Dosagem , Imageamento Tridimensional/métodos , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética/métodos , Estômago , Administração Oral , Fenômenos Eletromagnéticos , Óxido Ferroso-Férrico/química , Interações Alimento-Droga , Humanos , Tamanho da Partícula , Tecnologia Farmacêutica/métodos , Fatores de TempoRESUMO
The present paper describes a simple method for the analysis of MRI scanner noise. Besides the heating of body tissue by strong RF radiation and the formation of circular currents in the body induced bey switching field gradients, a noise level of more than 100 dB(A) during the measurement belongs to the potential risks of MRI. This risk is of particular concern for staff and accompanying persons who remain close to the scanner for different reasons (e. g., monitoring of anesthetized patients, reassuring of children). For this reason, and given the scanty information on noise provided in the manuals of the scanners, it is useful to quantify the noise level more exactly. This applies also to the evaluation of different sound-reducing methods for the patient. This presents the results of noise level measurements in the tomograph and in its surrounding, with and without noise reduction by headphones.
