CENTRAL-NERVOUS-SYSTEM TUMOR, INFECTION, AND INFARCTION - DETECTION WITH GADOLINIUM-ENHANCED MAGNETIZATION-TRANSFER MR-IMAGING

PURPOSE: To quantitatively measure the degree of contrast enhancement of central nervous system (CNS) tumor, infection, and infarction by me ans of magnetization transfer (MT) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. MA TERIALS AND METHODS: T1-weighted MR images obtained before and after a dministration of contrast material with and without MT in 14 patients with CNS tumors were evaluated by means of a contrast-to-noise ratio ( GIN). Another 72 patients with a variety of lesions underwent contrast material-enhanced T1-weighted MR imaging prospectively with and witho ut MT; C/N was also evaluated. RESULTS: All lesions had a higher C/N o n T1-weighted postcontrast MT images than on conventional images. C/N was 65 +/- 5 (mean +/- standard error) for MT and 42 +/- 4 for convent ional 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 c ontribute significantly (P <.001) to the increase in C/N in the absenc e of gadopentetate dimeglumine. In fact, the C/N was lower for nonenha nced T1-weighted MT images. CONCLUSION: Concurrent use of gadopentetat e dimeglumine and MT results in a statistically significant (P <.001) increase in C/N in CNS tumor, infection, and infarction.