Pancreatic enhancement and pulse sequence analysis using low-dose mangafodipir trisodium

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to evaluate pancreatic enhancement with low dose mangafodipir trisodium (5 μmol/kg) using three different T1-weighted pulse sequences. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. Fifteen patients, six of whom had proven focal pancreatic tumors, underwent T1- weighted gradient-recalled echo imaging, spin-echo imaging, and fat- suppressed spin-echo imaging before and 30 min after injection of 5 μmol/kg of mangafodipir trisodium. Region-of-interest measurements were obtained in the pancreas before and after contrast enhancement. Signal-to-noise ratios were calculated in all 15 patients. Contrast-to-noise ratios were calculated in the six patients with pancreatic tumors. RESULTS. The signal-to-noise ratios of the pancreas increased after injection of mangafodipir trisodium on all three T1-weighted pulse sequences (p < .001). Enhanced fat-suppressed sequences (29 ± 7.7) and gradient-recalled echo sequences (29 ± 9.6) had the highest signal-to-noise ratios. Contrast-to-noise ratios between normal pancreatic tissue and pancreatic tumor also increased after contrast administration (p < .05) and were highest on the fat-suppressed (-9.6 ± 4.0) pulse sequence. CONCLUSION. Mangafodipir trisodium produced marked pancreatic enhancement at a dose of 5 μmol/kg for all three T1-weighted pulse sequences. The enhanced T1-weighted spin-echo fat-suppressed sequence showed the highest signal-to-noise and contrast-to-noise ratios.