Magnetresonanztomografie mit superparamagnetischen Kontrastmittel: Ergebnisse und Anwendungsempfehlungen bei Patienten mit hepatisch metastasiertem neuroendokrinen Tumor

The aim of this prospective clinical trial was to compare the diagnostic performance of unenhanced and Gadolinium-enhanced (Gd-DTPA) MR imaging versus superparamagnetic iron oxide(SPIO)-enhanced MR imaging for detection of liver lesions in patients with neuroendocrine tumors. 44 patients underwent unenhanced and Gd-enhanced MR imaging of the liver at day one and SPIO-enhanced MR imaging at day two on a 1T MR machine.In 37 of 44 patients 316 suspect liver lesions with unenhanced and Gd-enhanced MRI versus 536 suspect lesions with SPIO-enhanced imaging were detected. This corresponds to an increase of detectable lesions of about 70% only achievable with a combination of four sequences (SPIO sequences: T2 turbo spin-echo; T2* gradient-echo fatsaturated; T1 gradient-echo fatsaturated; T1/T2 TrueFISP fatsaturated). There was no further lesions characterization,e.g. "benign" or "malign", as the specific dignity of the lesions was not proven.SPIO-MRI yields additional information relevant for decision making and patient selection in oncologic surgery. Alike literature reports minor adverse effects to SPIO occurred in almost 11,4%.