[Gadolinium-DTPA in magnetic resonance tomography. Clinical use--indications]

Magnetic resonance tomography was performed on 158 patients with different indications before and after the administration of contrast medium. The MR examination included various plain T1 and T2 weighted spin echo sequences as well as T1 weighted examinations after intravenous application of Gadolinium-DTPA ("Magnevist", Schering AG) in a dosage of 0.1 mmol/kg body weight. The following conclusions were drawn: The sensitivity of MR in detecting brain tumors, acoustic neuromas and pituitary adenomas was improved considerably after the administration of "Magnevist". To diagnose the type of tumor, the criteria which apply to Gd-DTPA are similar to those used for iodine-containing contrast medium in CT. In about 2/3rds of the cases, delineation of pathological tissues from surrounding edema and normal structures was better than in plain films. Hence, accurate, pretherapeutic staging of bronchial carcinomas and an exact definition of the expansion of the malignancies in the muscle-skeleton system were possible. In respect of tumors in the region of the base of the skull, we could omit T2-weighted sequences without noticeable loss of diagnostically relevant information; the examination time could thus be shortened by about 12 minutes.