title: MDCT angiography of the pulmonary arteries: intravascular contrast enhancement does not depend on iodine concentration when injecting equal amounts of iodine at standardized iodine delivery rates.
abstract: To compare the impact of iodine concentration using two different contrast materials (CM) at standardized iodine delivery rate (IDR) and overall iodine load in 16-multidetector-row-CT-angiography (MDCTA) of the pulmonary arteries of 192 patients with known or suspected pulmonary embolism. One hundred three patients (group A) received 148 ml of a CM containing 300 mg iodine/ml (Ultravist 300, BayerScheringPharma) at a flow rate of 4.9 ml/s. Eighty-nine patients (group B) received 120 ml of a CM with a concentration of 370 mg iodine/ml (Ultravist 370) at a flow rate of 4.0 ml/s, resulting in a standardized IDR (approximately 1.5 gI/s) and the same overall amount of iodine (44.4 g). Both CM injections were followed by a saline chaser. Mean density values were determined in the pulmonary trunk, the ascending and the descending aorta, respectively. Applying repeated-measures ANOVA, no statistically significant differences between both MDCTA protocols were found (p = 0.5790): the mean density in the pulmonary trunk was 355 +/- 116 Hounsfield Units (group A) and 358 +/- 115 (group B). The corresponding values for the ascending and descending aorta were 295 +/- 79 (group A) and 284 +/- 65 (group B) as well as 272 +/- 71 and 262 +/- 70. In conclusion, the use of standardized IDR and overall iodine load provides comparable intravascular CM density in pulmonary 16-MDCTA for delivering contrast materials with different iodine concentrations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, University Hospital, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany. keil@rad.rwth-aachen.de
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keil
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Plumhans
authors.forename: F F
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Behrendt
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stanzel
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mühlenbruch
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Seidensticker
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Knackstedt
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Mahnken
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Günther
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Wildberger
mesh_terms: D000792:Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007269:Injections, Intra-Arterial; D007472:Iohexol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000187:drug effects; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D007472:Iohexol; C038192:iopromide