EFFECT OF MAGNETIC-SUSCEPTIBILITY CONTRAST-MEDIUM ON MYOCARDIAL SIGNAL INTENSITY WITH FAST GRADIENT-RECALLED ECHO AND SPIN-ECHO MR-IMAGING - INITIAL EXPERIENCE IN HUMANS

PURPOSE: To show the effect of dysprosium diethylenetriaminepentaaceti c acid bis-methylamine injection on the images of normal human myocard ium. MATERIALS AND METHODS: T2-sensitive fast gradient-recalled echo ( GRE) (repetition lime [TR], 10.8 msec; echo time [TE], 4.2 msec) and s pin-echo (SE) (TR, three RR intervals; TE, 60 msec) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with driven equilibrium-preparation pulse was used to pr oduce T2 contrast material enhancement. The contrast agent was injecte d into 12 healthy subjects at doses of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 mm ol/kg. RESULTS: Driven equilibrium-prepared GRE images showed a transi ent decrease of myocardial signal intensity at doses of 0.2-0.6 mmol/k g. Postcontrast T2-weighted SE images showed a myocardial signal atten uation (30%-45% decrease) at a dose of 0.4 mmol/kg or higher. CONCLUSI ON: Dynamic MR imaging with a magnetic susceptibility contrast medium can be used to monitor the first pass of contrast media through human myocardium with a conventional MR imager and a fast GRE sequence.