The optimal use of contrast agents at high field MRI

The intravenous administration of a standard dose of conventional gadolinium-based contrast agents produces higher contrast between the tumor and normal brain at 3.0 Tesla (T) than at 1.5 T, which allows reducing the dose to half of the standard one to produce similar contrast at 3.0 T compared to 1.5 T. The assessment of cumulative triple-dose 3.0 T images obtained the best results in the detection of brain metastases compared to other sequences. The contrast agent dose for dynamic susceptibility-weighted contrast-enhanced perfusion MR imaging at 3.0 T can be reduced to 0.1 mmol compared to 0.2 mmol at 1.5 T due to the increased susceptibility effects at higher magnetic field strengths. Contrast agent application makes susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) at 3.0 T clinically attractive, with an increase in spatial resolution within the same scan time. Whereas a double dose of conventional gadolinium-based contrast agents was optimal in SWI with respect to sensitivity and image quality, a standard dose of gadobenate dimeglumine, which has a two-fold higher T1-relaxivity in blood, produced the same effect. For MR-arthrography, optimized concentrations of gadolinium-based contrast agents are similar at 3.0 and 1.5 T. In summary, high field MRI requires the optimization of the contrast agent dose in different clinical applications.