Intraindividual comparison of gadopentetate dimeglumine, gadobenate dimeglumine, and gadobutrol for pelvic 3D magnetic resonance angiography.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES

To compare the effect on image quality of a 1.0 mol/L gadolinium chelate with that of two 0.5 mol/L gadolinium compounds.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Five healthy volunteers underwent a mono-station 3D MRA exam (Siemens SONATA, Erlangen, Germany) four times using four separate gadolinium preparations. All subjects first received a fixed volume of undiluted gadobutrol (1 mol/L), which corresponded to a dose between 0.1 and 0.15 mmol/kg body weight. This gadobutrol dosage was then diluted with saline into twice the volume and administered as a bolus at twice the injection rate. For Gd-DTPA and Gd BOPTA, because these contrast agents are 0.5 mol/L preparations, the volume and flow rate were doubled to match diluted gadobutrol volume and concentration. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the angiographic data sets was performed on nine arterial segments.

RESULTS

Image quality was rated diagnostic for all image data sets without statistically significant differences between any of the compounds (P > 0.3). Quantitative measurements of Gd BOPTA (SNR: 81.15; CNR: 68.91) and both standard and diluted forms of gadobutrol (SNR: 84.33; CNR: 71.62; SNR(diluted): 79,23; CNR(diluted): 66.26) yielded significantly higher results (P < 0.02) in comparison with Gd-DTPA (SNR: 49.55; CNR: 38.24). The difference between either form of gadobutrol and Gd BOPTA was not shown to be statistically significant (P > 0.3), whereas both the SNR and CNR of standard gadobutrol were significantly higher than diluted gadobutrol.

CONCLUSION

Gadobutrol- and Gd BOPTA-MRA exams lead to improved delineation of the pelvic arterial morphology compared with MRA exams performed with Gd-DTPA.