Contrast-enhancing properties of Gd-DTPA at 2.0 Tesla

The contrast enhancing properties of Gd-DTPA in various tissues, including myocardium, liver, brain, skeletal muscle, and subcutis were investigated in vivo at 2.0 Tesla. Employing T1-weighted short pulse sequences (TR = 300 msec, TE = 14 msec) signal intensity of myocardium increased by 88%, brain by 19%, liver by 61%, skeletal muscle by 50%, and subcutis by 52% at 2 min after intravenous injection of 0.2 mmol/kg Gd-DTPA in rats. Signal intensity was highest at 2 min after injection and was relatively decreased at 20 min. Tissue intensities had returned to baseline at 60 min. In a separate experiment, fast (4 sec), repeated spin-echo image acquisitions allowed for assessment of the initial, dynamic distribution pattern of Gd-DTPA between 4 sec and 72 sec after intravenous injection. Tissue signal intensities peaked between eight and 16 seconds after injection and slowly decreased thereafter. This study shows that the contrast-enhancing properties of Gd-DTPA can be effectively assessed using T1-weighted short pulse sequences at 2.0 Tesla.