Endolymphatic hydrops revealed by intravenous gadolinium injection in patients with Ménière's disease

Abstract

Endolymphatic hydrops was observed in the ears of patients with Ménière's disease. However, Gd concentration in the perilymph was lower compared with that obtained after intratympanic Gd injection.

Imaging of Endolymphatic and Perilymphatic Fluid after Intravenous Administration of Single-dose Gadodiamide

“…4 Grading has also been applied to images obtained after double-and single-dose IV-GBCM. 3,10 Especially, acquisition of hT 2 W-3D-FLAIR images after IV-SD-GBCM is expected to spread widely in the clinicalˆeld because of the low No cochlear endolymphatic hydrops is seen. There is very smallˆlling defect at the location of the cochlear endolymph (short arrows).…”

Comparison of Contrast Effect on the Cochlear Perilymph after Intratympanic and Intravenous Gadolinium Injection

“…28 The reports describing intratympanic gadolinium injection in human subjects have been published from several institutions, including ours, [11][12][13][14][15][23][24][25][29][30][31] and no marked side effects in the inner ear relating to intratympanic gadolinium injection have been reported on clinical application at present, to the best of our knowledge. In addition, intravenously administered gadolinium has been reported to infiltrate inner ear perilymph, 16,17,22,23 and no marked side effects in the inner ear relating to IV gadolinium injection have been reported in the clinical application at present. Therefore, gadolinium agent use in the clinical setting appears safe for inner ear imaging, but future study requires continued vigilance regarding the small possibility of side effects.…”

“…11 Intravenously administered gadolinium agent also distributes into the perilymph space of the scala tympani through the blood-perilymph barrier, and elevation of the cochlear basal turn signal intensity is most easily observed 4 hours after IV gadolinium injection on 3D-FLAIR in human subjects. 16,22,23 The region of interest of the medulla oblongata was set on the center of the medulla oblongata at the identical section of the basal turn of the cochlea. The region of interest of the medulla oblongata did not include the signal intensity of CSF or vessels.…”

“…On the other hand, 3D-FLAIR imaging 4 hours after IV gadolinium injection (IV-method) also has been recently reported to visualize perilymph and endolymph fluid separately, in a less invasive manner than the IT-method, and also enables ascertaining the presence of endolymphatic hydrops in bilateral cochleae. 16,17 Consequently, both the ITmethod and IV-method are useful techniques for clarification of the inner ear clinical condition, though a statistical analysis of signal-intensity differences in the perilymph fluid between the 2 methods has not been previously reported, to our knowledge. The principal purpose of the present study was to evaluate the signal intensity of the cochlear perilymph by using both the IT-method and IV-method and to clarify the differences in contrast effect between these 2 techniques.…”

The Technical and Clinical Features of 3D-FLAIR in Neuroimaging

“…A combination of double-dose IV-GBCM and 3D-FLAIR imaging enabled the visualization of EH. [98][99][100] Usually, 4 h after IV-GBCM, MR imaging can be conducted.…”