Purpose: To determine whether the use of a multiple arterial phase imaging technique provides adequate image quality in patients experiencing transient severe motion (TSM) in the arterial phase on abdominal magnetic resonance (MR) images obtained with gadoxetate disodium.
Materials and methods: This retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board and was compliant with HIPAA. The requirement to obtain informed consent was waived. Five hundred forty-nine consecutive MR examinations were evaluated, 345 performed with gadoxetate disodium and 204 performed with gadobenate dimeglumine. All examinations included single-breath-hold triple arterial phase acquisition. Five radiologists blinded to the contrast material rated motion on a scale of 1 (no motion) to 5 (nondiagnostic images) for the precontrast phase, the three arterial phases, the portal venous phase, and the late dynamic phase. Adequacy of late hepatic arterial timing was also rated for the each of the three arterial phases. Mean motion scores were compared by using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. The number of patients with TSM, as well as the number of those with "adequate" arterial phases, was compared with the χ(2) or Fisher exact test, as appropriate.
Results: Mean motion scores in all three arterial phases in the gadoxetate disodium cohort were significantly worse than those in the gadobenate dimeglumine cohort (P < .005). TSM occurred at a higher rate with gadoxetate disodium than with gadobenate dimeglumine (10.7% [37 of 345 examinations] vs 0.5% [one of 204 examinations], P < .001). However, 30 of 37 examinations affected by TSM had at least one well-timed arterial phase with a mean motion score of 3 or less and were thus considered adequate.
Conclusion: Use of single-breath-hold multiple arterial phase acquisition in abdominal MR imaging with gadoxetate disodium recovers most arterial phases that would otherwise have been compromised by transient motion.