Open AccessMR Contrast Agent at High-Field MRI (3 Tesla)
Author(s) -
Siegfried Trattnig,
Ahmed BaSsalamah,
Iris-Melanie Nöebauer-Huhmann,
Markus Barth,
Stefan Wolfsberger,
Katja Pinker,
Engelbert Knosp
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
topics in magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.547
H-Index - 53
eISSN - 1536-1004
pISSN - 0899-3459
DOI - 10.1097/00002142-200310000-00003
Subject(s) - nuclear medicine , cavernous sinus , medicine , contrast (vision) , gadolinium , radiology , magnetic resonance imaging , fluid attenuated inversion recovery , physics , chemistry , organic chemistry , optics
Tumor-to-brain contrast after gadolinium administration using MP-RAGE and T1-SE scans in patients with primary and secondary brain tumors was significantly higher at 3 T than at 1.5 T. The subjective assessment of cumulative triple-dose 3 Tesla images obtained the best results in the detection of brain metastases compared with other sequences followed by 1.5 T cumulative triple-dose enhanced images. In macroadenomas of the hypophysis, contrast-enhanced 3 T MRI was superior to standard MRI in the diagnosis of cavernous sinus infiltration and in visualization of cranial nerves within the cavernous sinus. Due to higher spatial resolution, contrast-enhanced MR venography at 3 T showed more details in and around tumors than at 1.5 T, additionally enhanced by stronger susceptibility weighting and higher signal-to-noise ratio at 3 T. In summary, administration of gadolinium-based contrast agent produces higher contrast between tumor and normal brain at 3 T than at 1.5 T, helps to detect more cerebral metastases at 3 T versus 1.5 T in single and cumulative triple dose, improves the evaluation of macroadenomas of the hypophysis, and makes MR venography at 3 T clinically attractive with increase in spatial resolution within the same measurement time, thus providing more detailed information.