Intracranial Gadolinium Deposition after Contrast-enhanced MR Imaging

The purpose of this study was to assess the association between the serial number of gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations and the signal hyperintensity of the dentate nucleus on unenhanced T1-weighted images in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and those with brain metastases (BMs).

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a clinical imaging modality effective for anatomical and functional imaging of diseased soft tissues, including solid tumors. MRI contrast agents (CA) have been routinely used for detecting tumor at an early stage. Gadolinium-based CA are the most commonly used CA in clinical MRI. There have been significant efforts to design and develop novel Gd(III) CA with high relaxivity, low toxicity, and specific tumor binding. The relaxivity of the Gd(III) CA can be increased by proper chemical modification. The toxicity of Gd(III) CA can be reduced by increasing the agents' thermodynamic and kinetic stability, as well as optimizing their pharmacokinetic properties. The increasing knowledge in the field of cancer genomics and biology provides an opportunity for designing tumor-specific CA. Various new Gd(III) chelates have been designed and evaluated in animal models for more effective cancer MRI. This review outlines the design and development, physicochemical properties, and in vivo properties of several classes of Gd(III)-based MR CA tumor imaging. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The objective of this study was to determine the gadolinium (Gd) concentration remaining in human bone tissue after administration of standard clinical doses of 2 Gd-based contrast agents: ProHance and Omniscan. After administration of 0.1 mmol/kg of Gd chelate to patients undergoing hip replacement surgery, bone specimens were collected and analyzed, and compared with an age-matched control population without a history of Gd chelate administration. Bone specimens were collected fresh, refrigerated, and subsequently frozen. After grinding and freeze-drying, tissue digestion was performed using Teflon bombs and concentrated nitric acid. A method for analysis of Gd in bone specimens was developed and validated using inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). Results were compared with a previous study using a different technique for analysis of the same tissue specimens. Tissue retention was 1.77+/-0.704 microg Gd/g bone (n=9) for Omniscan and 0.477+/-0.271 microg Gd/g bone (n=10) for ProHance measured by ICP-MS. These findings confirmed results from the previous ICP-AES study. Omniscan (Gd[DTPA-BMA]) left approximately 4 times (previous study 2.5 times) more Gd behind in bone than did ProHance (Gd[HP-DO3A]).