Investig Magn Reson Imaging.  2017 Sep;21(3):171-176. 10.13104/imri.2017.21.3.171.

Quantification of Gadolinium Concentration Using GRE and UTE Sequences

• Park SH
• Nam Y
• Choi HS
• Woo ST

• KMID: 2392688
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.13104/imri.2017.21.3.171

Abstract

PURPOSE
To compare different MR sequences for quantification of gadolinium concentration.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Gadolinium contrast agents were diluted into 36 different concentrations. They were scanned using gradient echo (GRE) and ultrashort echo time (UTE) and R1, R2* and phase values were estimated from collected data. For analysis, ROI masks were made for each concentration and then ROI value was measured by mean and standard deviation from the estimated quantitative maps. Correlation analysis was performed and correlation coefficient was calculated.
RESULTS
Using GRE sequence, R1 showed a strong linear correlation at concentrations of 10 mM or less, and R2* showed a strong linear correlation between 10 to 100 mM. The phase of GRE generally exhibited a negative linear relationship for concentrations of 100 mM or less. In the case of UTE, the phase had a strong negative linear relationship at concentrations 100 mM or above.
CONCLUSION
R1, which was calculated by conventional GRE, showed a high performance of quantification for lower concentrations, with a correlation coefficient of 0.966 (10 mM or less). R2* showed stronger potential for higher concentrations with a correlation coefficient of 0.984 (10 to 100 mM), and UTE phase showed potential for even higher concentrations with a correlation coefficient of 0.992 (100 mM or above).

Keyword

Gadolinium; Concentration; Quantification

MeSH Terms

Contrast Media
Gadolinium*
Masks
Contrast Media
Gadolinium

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Phantom and representative MR images. (a) gadolinium phantom (concentration presented by mM), (b) GRE magnitude image, (c) UTE magnitude image, (d) GRE phase image, (e) UTE phase image.

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  Fig. 2 The estimated R1, R2* and phase values for different concentrations of gadolinium contrast agents.

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