• Wolfgang Utz, Thoralf Niendorf, Ralf Wassmuth, Daniel Messroghli, Rainer Dietz, and Jeanette Schulz-Menger.
• Franz Volhard Klinik, Charite Campus Buch, Helios Klinikum-Berlin at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Wiltbergstrasse 50, 13125 Berlin, Germany. wolfgang.utz@charite.de
• J Magn Reson Imaging. 2007 Jun 1; 25 (6): 1131-5.

PurposeTo determine the regime of linear contrast enhancement in human first-pass perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging to improve accuracy in myocardial perfusion quantification.Materials And MethodsA total of 10 healthy subjects were studied on a clinical 1.5T MR scanner. Seven doses of Gd-DTPA ranging from 0.00125 to 0.1 mmol/kg of body weight (b.w.) were administered as equal volumes by rapid bolus injection (6 mL/second). Resting periods of 15 minutes were introduced after delivery of Gd doses >0.01 mmol/kg b.w. For each subject, two series of rest perfusion scans were performed using two different multislice saturation-recovery perfusion sequences. Maximum contrast enhancement and maximum upslope were obtained in the blood pool of the left ventricular (LV) cavity and in the myocardium. The range of linear contrast-dose relation was determined by linear regression analysis.ResultsMR signal intensity increased linearly for contrast agent concentrations up to 0.01 mmol/kg b.w. in the LV blood pool and up to 0.05 mmol/kg b.w. in the myocardium. For Gd concentrations exceeding these thresholds the signal intensity response was not linear with respect to the contrast agent dose.ConclusionQuantitative evaluation of cardiac MR perfusion data needs to account for signal saturation in both the LV blood pool and the myocardium.(c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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