Gadopiclenol Breast MRI With Half Standard Gadolinium Dose Maintains High Parenchymal Contrast in Intraindividual...

To evaluate the contrast enhancement of the breast parenchyma in MRI using gadopiclenol (GP) at half the standard dose of gadolinium compared with gadobutrol (GB) at the standard dose of gadolinium.

This retrospective, single-center study considered 319 consecutive female patients who underwent breast MRI with a half-standard dose of gadopiclenol (0.05 mmol/kg) between January and March of 2025. Complete data sets of patients who had received a prior cycle-appropriate MRI using a standard dose of gadobutrol (0.1 mmol/kg) within 2 years, without interim therapy, were evaluated. Absolute signal enhancement of the aorta, axillary lymph nodes, and breast parenchyma was measured to provide an objective assessment. Two independent radiologists evaluated subjective image quality and diagnostic confidence using a 5-point Likert Scale in a side-by-side comparison. Statistical analyses were performed using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and weighted Cohen kappa.

A total of 145 patients (mostly with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome) met the inclusion criteria. GP revealed significantly higher absolute enhancement values for all regions (eg, breast parenchyma: GP: 41.8, IQR: 27.1 to 65.4 vs GB: 33.4, IQR: 21.6 to 56.3; P < 0.001). Both contrast agents achieved excellent overall diagnostic confidence ratings (5; IQR: 4 to 5) and demonstrated moderate agreement (GP: κ = 0.59/ GB: κ = 0.48). GP received more excellent ratings (71.9% vs 56.8%; P = 0.002). Most pairs were considered equal on terms of image quality (R1: 90/145; R2: 92/145; P = 0.845) with fair agreement (κ = 0.366). Agreement was achieved in 97 of the 145 cases (67 "equal," 21 "pro GP", and 9 "pro GB"). The combination "equal & pro GP" accounted for most of the remaining comparisons (37/48).

Breast MRI using gadopiclenol with half standard gadolinium dose offers equivalent to superior objective contrast enhancement and subjective diagnostic confidence compared with a gadobutrol-enhanced MRI with full standard gadolinium dose.