Tammy Louise Kalber1,2, Adrienne E.
Campbell1, Katy L. Parcell1, Bernard M. Siow1,
Anthony Neil Price1,3, Simon Walker-Samuel1, Quentin A.
Pankhurst4, Sam M. Janes2, Mark F. Lythgoe1
1Centre for Advanced
Biomedical Imaging, Division of Medicine & Institute of Child Health, University
College London, London, United Kingdom; 2Centre for Respiratory
Research, Department of Medicine, University College London, University
College London, London, United Kingdom; 3Robert Steiner MRI Unit,
Imaging Sciences Department, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London,
London; 4Davy-Faraday Research Laboratories, The Royal Institution
of Great Britain, London, United Kingdom
A primed i.p. infusion of Gd.DTPA was used to assess enhancement in a MDA-MB-231 lung metastasis model using a double gated spin echo sequence. Only large tumours and diffuse areas of increased signal intensity were discernable on baseline scans. These tumours and diffuse small tumours not apparent on baseline scans showed clear enhancement after initial Gd.DTPA bolus/infusion. Small tumours become more delineated and extensive at the later time points when we would expect increased Gd.DTPA concentration and to reach equilibrium. These results show that primed infusions with a double gated spin echo sequences offer superior detection of metastases over conventional techniques.