Optimal Scan Timing for Gd-EOB-DTPA Enhanced Liver Dynamic MR Imaging

Abstract

Gadoxetate Sodium (Gd-EOB-DTPA, EOB) is a new contrast agent for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging that allows both vascular and hepatobiliary imaging in one examination. Often in the arterial phase, however, appropriate scan timing is missed and contrast enhancement is not enough. In addition, to shorten the complete examination, some studies have been conducted to examine scan timing at the hepatobiliary phase earlier than 20 min after injection. We studied the optimal scan timing both at the arterial and the hepatobiliary phase. It was appropriate that multiphase acquisition of MR imaging at the arterial phase should be aimed around 25 sec after injection. Moreover, the liver-spleen contrast ratio (C(L-S)) at the hepatobiliary phase was highest at 60 min after injection, and the acquisition of an image earlier than 20 minutes lowered the C(L-S). In the future, it is desirable to establish how to use Gd-EOB-DTPA (EOB) for hepatic MR imaging after taking the extent of liver damage into consideration.

Combining diffusion-weighted MRI with Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI improves the detection of colorectal liver metastases

“…As Gd-EOB-DTPA imaging protocols are now being optimised in many departments to improve workflow, it is now recognised that imaging post-contrast at 20 min may be sufficient for good liver parenchymal enhancement [23]. It is thus likely that our study findings would be applicable to Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced images acquired at 20 min after contrast administration.…”

Optimization of hepatobiliary phase delay time of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging for identification of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with cirrhosis of different degrees of severity

“…Gd-EOB-DTPA started to be taken by hepatocytes from one and a half minutes after injection, and mounted the peak at about 20 min after injection[ 6 ]. Some researchers reported that the signal contrast between the liver and spleen reached the peak at a delay time of 60 min, and concluded that it would decrease the contrast of signals between the liver and spleen if the GED-MRI pictures were collected before DT-20 of the HBP[ 7 ]. However, an important problem is that many patients will feel discomfort if the delay time lasts too long, which makes them difficult to cooperate with operators, and then interferes with the procedure of GED-MRI and decreases its accuracy of diagnosis.…”

“…Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI (GED-MRI) is proven to have marked advantages over contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) in finding smaller hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), especially those with a diameter less than 20 mm, as well as the recurrent HCC after various antitumor treatments[ 4 , 5 ]. However, a disadvantage of GED-MRI is that it needs remarkably long time for scanning, in which the hepatobiliary phase delay time (HBP-DT) is usually set at 15 to 20 min or longer[ 6 , 7 ]. For the purpose of applying GED-MRI more efficiently and rationally in complex clinical background, it is very necessary to optimize the HBP-DT in different groups of patients, especially in those with liver-occupying lesions under various stages of cirrhosis[ 8 , 9 ].…”

Magnetic resonance-guided upper abdominal biopsies in a high-field wide-bore 3-T MRI system: feasibility, handling, and needle artefacts

“…For liver lesions, the organ-specific contrast agent Gd-EOB-DTPA (Primovist®/Eovist®, Bayer-Schering Pharma AG, Berlin, Germany) was used at a dose of 0.025 mmol/kg body weight to increase CNR between the target liver lesion and healthy liver tissue throughout the intervention [13]. The access path was planned on multiplanar reconstructions (MPRs) and chosen to be as short as possible, avoiding vessels and bile ducts.…”