Functional imaging with MR T1 contrast: a feasibility study with blood-pool contrast agent

• DOI: 10.1007/s00330-008-1210-8
• Publication Date: 2008-11-05T10:19:28Z
• Authors: Agata Majos; Piotr Bogorodzki; Ewa Piątkowska-Janko; Tomasz Wolak; Robert Kurjata; Ludomir Stefańczyk
• Keywords: Adult; Diagnostic Imaging; Male; Time Factors; Echo-Planar Imaging; Brain; Contrast Media; Middle Aged; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Humans; Female; Aged; Chelating Agents

The aim of this study was to prove the concept of using a long intravenous half-life blood-pool T1 contrast agent as a new functional imaging method. For each of ten healthy subjects, two dynamic magnetic resonance (MR) protocols were carried out: (1) a reference run with a typical T2* echo-planar imaging (EPI) sequence based on the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) effect and (2) a run with a T1-sensitive three-dimensional (3D) gradient-echo (GRE) sequence using cerebral blood volume (CBV) contrast after intravenous administration of a contrast agent containing a chelate of gadolinium diethylene-triamine-pentaacetate with a phosphono-oxymethyl substituent. All sequences were performed during the execution of a block-type finger-tapping paradigm. SPM5 software was used for statistical analysis. For both runs maximum activations (peak Z-score = 5.5, cluster size 3,449 voxels) were localized in the left postcentral gyrus. Visual inspection of respective signal amplitudes suggests the T1 contrast to be substantially smaller than EPI (0.5% vs 1%). A new functional imaging method with potentially smaller image artefacts due to the nature of CBV contrast and characteristics of the T1 sequence was proposed and verified.