Quantitative and qualitative comparison of 0.025 mmol/kg gadobenate dimeglumine for abdominal MRI at 1.5T and 3T MRI in patients with low estimated glomerular filtration rate

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy and adequacy of enhancement employing 0.025 mmol/kg of gadobenate dimeglumine at 1.5 Tesla (T), and to compare the extent of enhancement of this dosage between 1.5T and 3T systems.

Materials and methods: Our final population included 116 consecutive patients who underwent 0.025 mmol/kg gadobenate dimeglumine-enhanced abdominal MRI (78 men and 38 women; age, 64.1 ± 13.6 years). Sixty patients underwent imaging at 1.5T and 56 patients underwent imaging at 3T. Abdominal enhancement was evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively. The quality of enhancement was compared using Mann-Whitney U test. The percentage of enhancement of each organ was compared using Student t-test.

Results: The mean quality rating of enhancement was at least "good" in all phases of enhancement for both 1.5T and 3T. There was a non-significant trend to higher mean ratings at 3T. The liver showed a 1.3-fold higher arterial-phase percentage of enhancement at 3T (p=0.0138). There were no differences between the mean relative enhancement of the pancreas and aorta throughout all phases of enhancement. The percentage of enhancement of the renal cortex was significantly higher at 3T (p<0.0001 to p=0.0293).

Conclusion: A dose of 0.025 mmol/kg of gadobenate dimeglumine demonstrates diagnostic enhancement in the majority of patients at 1.5T, without significant differences on qualitative evaluation compared to 3T.

Keywords: 0.025mmol/kg; 1.5T; Dynamic imaging; Gadobenate dimeglumine; Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis; Quarter dose.