Superparamagnetic iron oxide: Detection of focal liver lesions at high-field-strength MR imaging

✍ Scribed by Stephan H. Duda; Michael Laniado; Andreas F. Kopp; Eckart Grönewäller; Klaus P. Aicher; Paolo Pavone; Ekkehard Jehle; Claus D. Claussen

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 829 KB
• Volume: 4
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1053-1807
• DOI: 10.1002/jmri.1880040314

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

AMI‐25 was evaluated at 1.5 T as a superparamagnetic iron oxide contrast agent for the liver. Sixteen patients with up to five suspected focal liver lesions were examined with T1‐, proton‐density—, and T2‐weighted spin‐echo sequences before and after intravenous administration of AMI‐25 (15 μmol/kg iron). The contrast‐to‐noise ratio (C/N) increased from 1.8 to 3.5 on 600/15 (TR msec/TE msec) images and from 1.7 to 7.9 on 2,500/15 images after AMI‐25 administration (P <.01). C/N did not change significantly on 2,500/90 images. Two blinded readers counted the number of lesions visible on unenhanced and contrast‐enhanced images, with the 32 sets of images of the 16 patients presented in random order. Both readers identified more lesions on AMI‐25–enhanced images, but the difference was not statistically significant (P >.05). Two patients reported minor side effects (flushing, sensation of heat, lower back pain). On the basis of the results obtained in a limited number of patients, the authors conclude that at 1.5 T, AMI‐25 does not significantly improve the detection of focal liver lesions on conventional spin‐echo images.