Gadolinium Brain Deposition after Macrocyclic Gadolinium Administration: A Pediatric Case-Control Study.

Purpose To determine whether signal intensity (SI) in T1 sequences as a potential indicator of gadolinium deposition increases after repeated administration of the macrocyclic gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) gadoteridol and gadoterate meglumine in a pediatric cohort. Materials and Methods This retrospective case-control study of children with brain tumors who underwent nine or more contrast material-enhanced brain magnetic resonance (MR) imaging studies from 2008 to 2015 was approved by the local ethics board. Informed consent was obtained for MR imaging. Twenty-four case patients aged 5-18 years and appropriate control patients with nonpathologic MR neuroimaging findings (and no GBCA administration), matched for age and sex, were inculded. SI was measured on unenhanced T1-weighted MR images for the following five regions of interest (ROIs): the dentate nucleus (DN), pons, substantia nigra (SN), pulvinar thalami, and globus pallidus (GP). Paired t tests were used to compare SI and SI ratios (DN to pons, GP to thalamus) between case patients and control patients. Pearson correlations between relative signal changes and the number of GBCA administrations and total GBCA dose were calculated. Results The mean number of GBCA administrations was 14.2. No significant differences in mean SI for any ROI and no group differences were found when DN-to-pons and GP-to-pulvinar ratios were compared (DN-to-pons ratio in case patients: mean, 1.0083 ± 0.0373 [standard deviation]; DN-to-pons ratio in control patients: mean, 1.0183 ± 0.01917; P = .37; GP-to-pulvinar ratio in case patients: mean, 1.1335 ± 0.04528; and GP-to-pulvinar ratio in control patients: mean, 1.1141 ± 0.07058; P = .29). No correlation was found between the number of GBCA administrations or the total amount of GBCA administered and signal change for any ROI. (Number of GBCA applications: DN: r = -0.254, P = .31; pons: r = -0.097, P = .65; SN: r = -0.194, P = .38; GP: r = -0.175, P = .41; pulvinar: r = -0.067, P = .75; total amount of administered GBCA: DN: r = 0.091, P = .72; pons: r = 0.106, P = .62; SN: r = -0.165, P = .45; GP: r = 0.111, P = .61; pulvinar: r = 0.173, P = .42.) Conclusion Multiple intravenous administrations of these macrocyclic GBCAs in children were not associated with a measurable increase in SI in T1 sequences as an indicator of brain gadolinium deposition detectable by using MR imaging. Additional imaging and pathologic studies are needed to confirm these findings. RSNA, 2017 Online supplemental material is available for this article.