The value of gadolinium-chelates enhancement in neuroradiology.

The authors review the general requirements for contrast enhancement after gadolinium administration, peculiar status and function of the brain-blood barrier (BBB), effect of corticoids on the broken BBB, parallelism between the effects of iodinated contrast agents on CT and gadolinium-chelates on MRI. The mechanisms producing enhancement differ completely, which explains the potential qualitative and quantitative differences between the techniques in vascular compartment or cerebral tissue. The effects of contrast medium doses and strength of the main magnetic field, contrast enhancement and time, enhancement and pulse sequence data are discussed. Rules for interpretation are the conclusion.