The purpose of this first patient study (phase II) was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of a new echo contrast agent at transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (US). Twenty patients were selected from a group of 242 patients undergoing conventional transcranial Doppler US who had low (n = 18) or absent (n = 2) Doppler signals from the middle cerebral artery (MCA). The extent and duration of Doppler signal increase was measured in 30 MCAs and in 14 basilar arteries following the intravenous injection of a transpulmonary galactose microparticle suspension (SH U 508 A) at three concentrations (200, 300, and 400 mg/mL). Doppler waveform analysis became possible in 93% (28 of 30) of the MCAs following injection. The maximal increase in average Doppler signal intensity (11 dB at 200 mg/mL, 15 dB at 300 mg/mL, and 17 dB at 400 mg/mL) and the increase in average duration of the signal enhancement (163 seconds at 200 mg/mL, 219 seconds at 300 mg/mL, and 240 seconds at 400 mg/mL) depended on contrast agent concentration. Doppler waveform analysis became possible in 79% (11 of 14) of the basilar arteries. The intravenous injection of this new echo contrast agent markedly increases Doppler signal intensity in patients with nondiagnostic results at conventional Doppler US.
In meningiomas, a flat, contrast-enhancing, probably dural structure adjacent to the tumor can occasionally be observed on Gadolinium-DTPA enhanced MR images. This so called "meningeal sign" was evaluated with respect to the differential diagnosis of meningiomas in MR imaging. The study included 29 patients with intracranial meningiomas and 24 patients with non-meningeal brain tumors. In all meningiomas, MR studies included T2-weighted as well as unenhanced and Gadolinium-DTPA-enhanced T1-weighted images. In all non-meningeal tumors, Gd-DTPA-enhanced MR images were available. All images were evaluated with respect to the presence of the "meningeal sign". In meningiomas, a "meningeal sign" was seen in 15/29 cases on Gadolinium-DTPA-enhanced images. No abnormalities corresponding to the areas of contrast enhancement were found on unenhanced T2- and T1-weighted MR images. In non-meningeal tumors only 2/24 cases showed a "meningeal sign". In conclusion, with a sensitivity of 52% and a specificity of 92%, the demonstration of the "meningeal sign" improved the differential diagnosis of intracranial meningiomas in contrast-enhanced MR imaging.
A prospective study was carried out involving 27 patients to determine whether MRT can distinguish between lymph node metastases and reactive lymph node enlargement. The results of MRT were compared with the pathological findings. Using T1 and T2 weighted sequences and proton density sequences it was not possible to differentiate between reactively enlarged lymph nodes and lymph node metastases. Following the administration of Gd-DTPA the observation of central hypo-intensity with marginal hyper-intensity is a reliable sign of a lymph node metastasis. Using the criterion of length greater than 10 mm for lymph node metastases results in a specificity of 32% and sensitivity of 75%. The use of the sonographic maximal/cross measurement quotient > 2 in the axial/coronary/sagittal dimension improves specificity and sensitivity to 94%.
Fifty patients with intracranial meningiomas underwent plain and contrast-enhanced examinations with CT and MRI. Each of the MR studies consisted of three plain (T1, proton density and T2-weighted) and a post-contrast series (0.1 mmol Gd-DTPA/kg body weight). All techniques (plain CT, plain MRI, contrast-enhanced CT, contrast-enhanced MRI) proved to be highly efficient as regards tumour detection: depending on the technique, an intracranial lesion was demonstrated in 47-50 cases. The image contrast was assessed as good or excellent in 21 cases having plain CT and in 33 cases having plain MRI, but in 46 and 50 of the contrast-enhanced CT and MRI studies respectively. Adequate tumour delineation was achieved in 18 cases with plain CT, in 35 cases with plain MRI and in 46 and 50 cases of the contrast-enhanced CT and MRI examinations. The contrast-enhanced studies proved to be superior to the plain CT and MRI studies as regards image contrast and tumor delineation. Because of the methodological advantages of the MRI technique, contrast-enhanced MRI was judged to be slightly superior to contrast-enhanced CT.
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