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Half-dose versus full-dose macrocyclic gadolinium at 3-T magnetic resonance imaging in paediatric bone and soft-tissue disease

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Abstract

Background

Given the recent concerns about gadolinium-based contrast agent safety, dose reduction strategies are being investigated.

Objective

To compare half-dose and standard full-dose gadoterate meglumine at 3-tesla (T) MRI in paediatric bone and soft-tissue diseases.

Materials and methods

We prospectively enrolled 45 children (age range 2.7 months to 17.5 years, median age 8.7 years, 49 total anatomical segments) with bone and soft-tissue diseases (neoplastic, inflammatory/infectious, ischaemic and vascular) imaged at 3-T MRI. Two consecutive half-doses of gadoterate meglumine (0.05 mmol/kg body weight) were administered. Two sets of post-contrast T1-weighted images were obtained, one after the first half dose and the other after the second half dose. For qualitative analysis, three radiologists, masked to the gadolinium dose, compared the diagnostic quality of the images. For quantitative analysis, we compared signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio at half and full doses.

Results

Signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio did not vary significantly between the two groups. Qualitative analysis yielded excellent image quality in both post-contrast image datasets (Cohen κ=0.8).

Conclusion

In paediatric bone and soft-tissue 3-T MRI, it is feasible to halve the standard dose of gadoterate meglumine without losing image quality.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Imaging, Neuroradiology Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, Piazza Sant’Onofrio 4, 00165, Rome, Italy

    Giovanna Stefania Colafati & Chiara Carducci

  2. Department of Imaging, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy

    Enrica Rossi & Paolo Tomà

  3. Unit of Clinical Epidemiology, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy

    Simone Piga

  4. Department of Hematology/Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy

    Ioan Paul Voicu & Angela Mastronuzzi

Authors
  1. Giovanna Stefania Colafati
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  2. Enrica Rossi
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  3. Chiara Carducci
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  4. Simone Piga
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  7. Paolo Tomà
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Correspondence to Giovanna Stefania Colafati.

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Colafati, G.S., Rossi, E., Carducci, C. et al. Half-dose versus full-dose macrocyclic gadolinium at 3-T magnetic resonance imaging in paediatric bone and soft-tissue disease. Pediatr Radiol 48, 1724–1735 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-018-4204-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-018-4204-y

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