Abdominal vasculature in dynamic contrast-enhanced liver MRI at 3.0 T: an intraindividual comparative study using gadoxetate disodium and gadofosveset trisodium

ObjectivesTo intraindividually compare gadoxetate disodium and gadofosveset trisodium regarding vessel contrast, image quality and vessel delineation in dynamic contrast-enhanced liver MRI at 3.0 T.MethodsTwelve patients underwent 3.0 T MRI twice (24 examinations) with a single dose of gadoxetate disodium and gadofosveset trisodium, respectively. Signal intensity in abdominal vessels and tissue was determined. Vessel-to-background ratio (VBR) was calculated for each vessel and dynamic phase. All images were evaluated by two radiologists regarding image quality, vessel delineation and anatomic variants or pathologies with digital subtraction angiography as the standard of reference.ResultsGadofosveset trisodium demonstrated a significantly higher VBR compared to gadoxetate disodium (arterial phase: 0.57 ± 0.12 [SD] vs. 0.46 ± 0.19; portal venous phase: 0.51 ± 0.11 vs. 0.37 ± 0.14; equilibrium phase: 0.48 ± 0.10 vs. 0.31 ± 0.13; p ≤ 0.01). Image quality and vessel delineation were rated equal or better for gadofosveset trisodium in all cases. These differences were not significant for most vessel segments. All anatomic variants were correctly identified by both readers for both contrast agents.ConclusionsAlthough gadofosveset trisodium provides a significantly higher vessel contrast at 3.0 T, gadoxetate disodium is equivalent by qualitative measurements. Thus, gadoxetate-enhanced liver MRI at 3.0 T enables reliable assessment of the upper abdominal vasculature with the additional benefit of hepatobiliary imaging.