1H T1 and T2 measurements of the MR imaging contrast agents Gd-DTPA and Gd-DTPA BMA at 1.5T

We report in vitro T₁ and T₂ relaxation studies for the open-chain complexes Gd-DTPA and Gd-DTPA BMA. Measurements were performed on phantoms containing aqueous and plasma solutions of different concentrations by MR imaging in a 1.5T superconducting whole-body scanner. Longitudinal relaxation times T₁ were evaluated from serial turbo-FLASH experiments for concentrations less than 1 mM, whereas for larger concentrations the values were obtained from a standard inversion recovery (IR) sequence. Transverse relaxation times T₂ were determined using multi-echo spin-echo MRI protocols. The T₁ and T₂ relaxivities of the nonionic Gd-DTPA BMA are similar to those of the Gd-DTPA. The temperature dependencies of the relaxivities were determined over a temperature interval ranging from 21 to 50 °C and were found to be slightly different for the two contrast agents. In the case of Gd-DTPA BMA a larger deviation of the expected temperature behavior of the relaxivities was observed as compared with Gd-DTPA. Deviations from a strictly linear dependence of relaxation times on temperature were found at lower concentrations in aqueous solutions. In plasma solutions a high T₁/T₂ ratio was observed for low concentrations, which decreased monotonically with increasing concentrations. Received 2 October 1995; Revision received 17 April 1996; Accepted 24 April 1996