MN-DPDP ENHANCED MR-IMAGING OF THE LIVER - ANALYSIS OF PULSE SEQUENCEPERFORMANCE

Aim: To compare liver enhancement and lesion-liver contrast on T1-weig hted (T1W) gradient recalled echo (GRE), spin-echo (SE) and fat-suppre ssed SE (FS-SE) pulse sequences at Manganese-DPDP (Mn-DPDP) enhanced m agnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the liver. Patients and Methods: Twe nty-one patients with known liver lesions were administered 5 mu mol/k g of Mn-DPDP. TIW GRE (78/2.3/80 degrees), SE and F-SE (300/12) images were obtained before and 15 min after Mn-DPDP. Signal/noise ratio (SN R) and lesion-liver contrast/noise ratio (CNR) were calculated for eac h pulse sequence. Results: Liver SNR (n = 21) and lesion-liver CNR (n = 10) increased significantly after Mn-DPDP on all three pulse sequenc es (P < 0.0001). Liver SNR was highest on the FS-SE and GRE pulse sequ ences (FS-SE = 43.8, GRE = 38.4, SE = 29.2). Lesion-liver CNR was high est on the FS-SE pulse sequence (FS-SE = -29.3, SE = -23.2, GRE- -19.8 ), which was significantly higher than the GRE pulse sequence (P < 0.0 5). Conclusion: The T1-weighted fat-suppressed SE (FS-SE) pulse sequen ce provides highest liver enhancement and lesion-liver contrast and is recommended for Mn-DPDP enhanced NBR imaging.