The Quantitative Assessment of Gd-DTPA in Contrast Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Angiography

Recently, the use of MRI contrast agents has been proven to be substantially improved sensitivity and specificity in many clinical applications. CE-MRA has higher blood signal based on the T1 and T2-shortening property of contrast agents, so that even the small vessels can be visualized. The use of contrast agents can improve lesion detection and characterization. The routinely used dose of contrast agents in the routine MRI examinations only relies on the weight of the subject. The purpose of this study is to obtain the clinically optimal dose for 3D-TOF (time-of-flight) pulse sequences for CE-MRA examinations. In the phantom study, ten test tubes were filled with saline mixed with different dose of Gd-DTPA. It is found that the optimal dose of Gd-DTPA for saline phantom by using 3D-TOF pulse sequences is 20 mM. Also, there has no differences of optimal doses between Omniscan and Magnivist contrast agents Gd-DTPA. The results show that consistent high quality CE-MRA images might be obtained by using 0.25M Gd-DTPA (half of the routine dose) with 3~4 cc/sec injection rate for all clinical cases. The benefits of this study might be to minimize dose and potential toxicity. Additionally, the decrease of the cost of contrast agents might be achieved. It is expected to provide the recommended dose of Gd-DTPA for contrast enhanced MRA in clinical routine diagnosis.