Low-dose GBCA administration for brain tumour dynamic contrast enhanced MRI: a feasibility study

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Medical Imaging
• Oncology

Background:

• Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced (DCE) MRI is crucial for brain tumor analysis.
• Current DCE-MRI protocols often require high doses of gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs).
• Reducing GBCA dose is essential for patient safety and cost-effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a novel low-GBCA dose protocol for high-spatial resolution kinetic parameter mapping in brain DCE-MRI.
• To assess the feasibility and accuracy of this new protocol.

Main Methods:

• Prospective imaging of 19 patients with intracranial skull base tumors at 1.5T.
• Utilized a single-injection, low-dose, dual temporal resolution interleaved DCE-MRI acquisition.
• Evaluated kinetic parameters (ve, Ktrans, vp) using Monte Carlo simulations and in vivo comparisons with full-dose protocols and histopathology.

Main Results:

• The low-dose interleaved protocol demonstrated superior accuracy compared to high-spatial, low-temporal resolution methods.
• Kinetic parameters derived from the low-dose protocol showed significant correlation with full-dose acquisition results (p < 0.001).
• The protocol also showed a significant association with microvessel density markers (p < 0.05).

Conclusions:

• Accurate high-spatial resolution kinetic parameter mapping in brain DCE-MRI is feasible with a significantly reduced GBCA dose.
• This low-dose protocol offers a promising alternative for safer and potentially more accessible brain tumor imaging.
• Further validation in larger cohorts is warranted.