Comparison of contract appearance of gadobenate-dimeglumine and GA-DTPA in intra-axial brain tumors

The purposes of the study was to assess intraaxial brain tumors by a blinded comparison of gadobenat-dimeglumine and Gd-DTPA 27 patients with known cerebral gliomas or metastases were included into an intra-individual randomized double-blinded cross-over study. The protocol included T1 SE, T2 FSE and after contrast a series of five T1 SE sequences followed by T1 SE with MT, T1 SE, and 3D GRE sequences. Imaging data acquired at two centers were assessed on-site by the investigators and off-site by two experienced readers using quantitative and qualitative criteria. For a quantitative analysis tumor contrast and contrast-to-noise ratios were determined out of ROI in tumor, unaffected white matter, a region outside the head, and an external reference tube. For the qualitative assessment on- and off-site readers were asked to compare both MR scans for lesion contrast, lesion delineation and information upon the internal morphology and structure. In the quantitative analysis lesions examined with gadobenat-dimeglumine present a maximal 26% increase of the lesion contrast. In both, the on-site, as well as the off-site assessment the intensity of enhancement and the lesion contrast were found to be significantly better with gadobenat-dimeglumine enhanced MRI. There was a trend towards gadobenat-dimeglumine for the delineation of the lesion from the surrounding tissue and the internal lesion morphology. Based on our observations gadobenat-dimeglumine proved to be a safe and valuable contrast media for the assessment of CNS neoplasms. Compared with Gd-DTPA it provides a more intense contrast enhancement and a better tumor contrast which might be of importance for the further management of these patients. (orig.)