title: Enhancement of liver and pancreas on late hepatic arterial phase imaging: quantitative comparison among multiple gadolinium-based contrast agents at 1.5 Tesla MRI.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare enhancement of the liver and pancreas quantitatively on late hepatic arterial phase images among various gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) at 1.5 Tesla (T) MRI.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients underwent consecutive MR studies with the following GBCAs: gadopentetate dimeglumine (0.1 mmol/kg) gadobenate dimeglumine (0.05 mmol/kg), gadoxetic acid, and gadobutrol group. The enhancement of liver and pancreas was evaluated quantitatively on late hepatic arterial phase. Relative pancreas-to-liver enhancement ratio was also calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean % enhancement of the liver and the pancreas was 21.57 and 55.40, and mean relative pancreas to liver enhancement was 2.23. Mean % enhancement of the liver for gadopentetate, gadobenate, gadoxetic, and gadobutrol were 20.4 ± 12.3, 21.7 ± 7.1, 16.2 ± 6.1, 29.1 ± 21.9. Significant difference was observed for % enhancement of liver comparing gadobutrol and gadoxetic (P = 0.048). Mean % enhancement of pancreas for gadopentetate, gadobenate, gadoxetic, and gadobutrol were 53.6 ± 12.6, 60.1 ± 13.7, 52.7 ± 10.6, 54.7 ± 19.5. No significant differences were observed for % enhancement of pancreas (P > 0.05). No significant differences were observed for relative pancreas-to-liver enhancement ratio (P > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study describes % enhancement of liver and pancreas using various GBCAs. The data may provide reference material on relaxation properties of GBCAs in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Mi Jeong
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seong Hyun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hee Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Bong Soo
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Mateus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hernandes
authors.forename: Richard C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Semelka
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D005682:Gadolinium; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008099:Liver; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010179:Pancreas; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D005682:Gadolinium
keywords: Gadobenate dimeglumine (Gd-BOPTA); Gadobutrol; Gadopentetate dimeglumine (Gd-DTPA); Gadoxetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA); MR Imaging; abdominal imaging; comparative studies; gadobenate dimeglumine; gadolinium; liver MRI; magnetic resonance imaging; pancreas MRI