Central nervous system tumor, infection, and infarction: detection with gadolinium-enhanced magnetization transfer MR imaging.
OBJECTIVE
To quantitatively measure the degree of contrast enhancement of central nervous system (CNS) tumor, infection, and infarction by means of magnetization transfer (MT) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging.


METHODS
T1-weighted MR images obtained before and after administration of contrast material with and without MT in 14 patients with CNS tumors were evaluated by means of a contrast-to-noise ratio (C/N). Another 72 patients with a variety of lesions underwent contrast material-enhanced T1-weighted MR imaging prospectively with and without MT; C/N was also evaluated.


RESULTS
All lesions had a higher C/N on T1-weighted postcontrast MT images than on conventional images. C/N was 65 +/- 5 (mean +/- standard error) for MT and 42 +/- 4 for conventional images. C/N improved by a factor of 1.6-2.1 in the three disease categories. In intracranial tumors, the MT technique itself did not contribute significantly (P < .001) to the increase in C/N in the absence of gadopentetate dimeglumine. In fact, the C/N was lower for nonenhanced T1-weighted MT images.


CONCLUSIONS
Concurrent use of gadopentetate dimeglumine and MT results in a statistically significant (P < .001) increase in C/N in CNS tumor, infection, and infarction.
Mehta
R C
RC
Department of Radiology, Stanford University Medical Center, CA 94305-5105.
Pike
G B
GB
Haros
S P
SP
Enzmann
D R
DR
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000556:secondary; D002493:Central Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003287:Contrast Media; D004338:Drug Combinations; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008536:Meglumine; D008875:Middle Aged; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D004369:Pentetic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D011446:Prospective Studies
D003287:Contrast Media; D004338:Drug Combinations; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D008536:Meglumine; D004369:Pentetic Acid; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA