Radiology, Vol 195, 41-46, Copyright © 1995 by Radiological Society of North America
Central nervous system tumor, infection, and infarction: detection with gadolinium-enhanced magnetization transfer MR imaging
RC Mehta, GB Pike, SP Haros and DR Enzmann
Department of Radiology, Stanford University Medical Center, CA 94305- 5105.
PURPOSE: To quantitatively measure the degree of contrast enhancement of
central nervous system (CNS) tumor, infection, and infarction by means of
magnetization transfer (MT) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. MATERIALS AND
METHODS: T1-weighted MR images obtained before and after administration of
contrast material with and without MT in 14 patients with CNS tumors were
evaluated by means of a contrast-to-noise ratio (C/N). Another 72 patients
with a variety of lesions underwent contrast material-enhanced T1-weighted
MR imaging prospectively with and without MT; C/N was also evaluated.
RESULTS: All lesions had a higher C/N on T1- weighted postcontrast MT
images than on conventional images. C/N was 65 +/- 5 (mean +/- standard
error) for MT and 42 +/- 4 for conventional images. C/N improved by a
factor of 1.6-2.1 in the three disease categories. In intracranial tumors,
the MT technique itself did not contribute significantly (P < .001) to
the increase in C/N in the absence of gadopentetate dimeglumine. In fact,
the C/N was lower for nonenhanced T1-weighted MT images. CONCLUSION:
Concurrent use of gadopentetate dimeglumine and MT results in a
statistically significant (P < .001) increase in C/N in CNS tumor,
infection, and infarction.
