Academic Radiology
Volume 17, Issue 11 , Pages 1394-1400, November 2010

Comparison of Gadofosveset Trisodium and Gadobenate Dimeglumine During Time-Resolved Thoracic MR Angiography at 3T

  • Alex Frydrychowicz, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 600 Highland Avenue, CSC E1/322, Madison, WI 53729
    • Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Medical Physics, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress correspondence to: A.F.
    • ,
  • Maximilian F. Russe

      Affiliations

    • Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Medical Physics, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
    • ,
  • Jelena Bock, MSc

      Affiliations

    • Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Medical Physics, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
    • ,
  • Aurélien F. Stalder, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Medical Physics, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
    • Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
    • ,
  • Thorsten A. Bley, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Radiology, University Hospital Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
    • ,
  • Andreas Harloff, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
    • ,
  • Michael Markl, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Medical Physics, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

Received 26 March 2010; accepted 26 May 2010. published online 23 July 2010.

Rationale and Objectives

Gadofosveset trisodium is a blood-pool contrast agent (BPA) that shows a less pronounced r1 relaxivity advantage over gadobenate dimeglumine at 3T than at 1.5T. However, there are few data on image quality during first-pass imaging of the thoracic vasculature with gadofosveset trisodium at 3 T. Therefore, it was the aim of this study to compare first-pass imaging characteristics of gadofosveset trisodium to gadobenate dimeglumine during time-resolved contrast-enhanced three-dimensional magnetic resonance angiography (CE MRA) at 3 T.

Materials and Methods

Twenty volunteers underwent time-resolved CE MRA on a 3 T magnetic resonance (MR) system with a standard eight-channel phased-array surface coil, receiving either gadofosveset trisodium (blood pool agent [BPA], n = 10) or gadobenate dimeglumine (standard contrast agent, [SCA], n = 10). Image quality was assessed by two independent readers using a Likert scale ranging from 0 = poor quality to 3 = excellent quality, and relative signal-to-noise and contrast-to-noise ratios were calculated.

Results

Equally good to excellent first-pass image quality was confirmed for time-resolved CE MRA using BPA and SCA (arteries, 2.8 ± 0.2 and 2.6 ± 0.4; veins, 2.5 ± 0.3 and 2.2 ± 0.4; artifacts, 2.4 ± 0.2 and 2.3 ± 0.1). Signal-to-noise and contrast-to-noise ratios showed nonsignificant differences, except for left subclavian artery values. There was an overall nonsignificant superiority in signal-to-noise and contrast-to-noise ratios for standard contrast agent in arterial values and BPA regarding venous values.

Conclusions

Despite a markedly decreased r1/r2 relaxivity ratio, first-pass imaging characteristics of gadofosveset trisodium and gadobenate dimeglumine are equally well suited for first pass time-resolved CE MRA at 3 T.

Key Words: Time-resolved contrast-enhanced MRA, blood-pool contrast agent, gadofosveset trisodium, gadobenate dimeglumine

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 Dr Markl receives funding from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Bonn, Germany; grant MA 2383/4-1) and Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (Bonn, Germany; grant 01EV0706).

PII: S1076-6332(10)00313-2

doi:10.1016/j.acra.2010.05.022

Academic Radiology
Volume 17, Issue 11 , Pages 1394-1400, November 2010

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