Cranial tissues: Appearance at gadolinium-enhanced and nonenhanced MR imaging with magnetization transfer contrast

PURPOSE: To determine the relative contrast of normal cranial tissues at magnetization transfer (MT) spin-echo magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MR imaging at 1.5 T was performed with conventional spin-echo techniques without and with off-resonance MT saturation pulses. The signal intensities of normal cranial tissues were measured in 10 healthy volunteers on spin-density- and T2-weighted images and in 10 patients on T1- weighted images obtained before and after administration of gadopentetate dimeglumine. RESULTS: MT saturation produced a significant (P < .01) reduction in signal from all tissues except cerebrospinal fluid and fat. Several gray matter structures had higher signal intensity than white matter on T1-weighted MT images. After administration of gadopentetate dimeglumine, imaging with the MT sequence increased visualization of normally enhancing structures. CONCLUSION: MT saturation pulses produce new patterns of tissue contrast that differ substantially from those seen on conventional spin-echo images.