To investigate the potential of gadolinium (Gd)-ethoxybenzyl (EOB)-diethylenetriamine-pentaacetic acid (DTPA) for evaluating liver function, chemically induced hepatitis animal models were studied. The rats in group 1 underwent intraperitoneal administration of 2.0 ml/kg and those in group 2 underwent intraperitoneal administration of .5 ml/kg of 50% (V/V) carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) solution. The rats in group 3 served as controls. For rats of each group, the signal intensity of the liver was measured on T1-weighted spin-echo MR images acquired before and until 60 minutes after an intravenous injection of Gd-EOB-DTPA. The remaining rats in each group underwent indocyanine green test, serologic examination, or measurement of prothrombin time. Liver enhancement was compared with results of the other examinations. The degree of liver enhancement with Gd-EOB-DTPA was decreased and the washout of contrast was prolonged in the CCl4-administered groups. In this animal model, both hepatic dysfunction and liver enhancement were dose-dependent. MRI with Gd-EOB-DTPA has the potential to evaluate hepatic function.

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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of the new liver-specific magnetic resonance contrast agent gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine penta-acetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) to detect hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Seventeen mice with 66 chemically induced HCCs underwent magnetic resonance imaging with both Gd-EOB-DTPA (30 mumol/kg) and superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO; 10 mumol/kg). After enhancement, lesion-to-liver contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs) of 47 detected HCCs increased negatively from 3.7 +/- 10.7 (mean +/- SD) to -55.1 +/- 25.8 with Gd-EOB-DTPA (P < .001) and increased positively from 10.4 +/- 10.4 to 26.1 +/- 16.3 with SPIO (P < .001). The improvement of CNR after administration of SPIO was less in smaller lesions (< 4 mm), whereas that after administration of Gd-EOB-DTPA was independent of lesion size. However, Gd-EOB-DTPA positively enhanced four HCCs (8.5%), both highly differentiated (grade 1) and moderately differentiated (grade 2). Gd-EOB-DTPA allows the conspicuous detection of small HCCs; however, moderately differentiated HCCs occasionally may be positively enhanced.

To determine whether paradoxic uptake of gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) occurs only with highly differentiated hepatocellular carcinomas, quantitative image analysis was performed in 37 mice with 133 hepatocellular carcinomas. The results of lesion/ liver signal intensity measurement and relative enhancement calculation indicate that paradoxic positive enhancement occurs independently of cellular differentiation.