3.0-T whole-heart coronary magnetic resonance angiography: comparison of gadobenate dimeglumine and gadofosveset trisodium

Gadolinium enhanced coronary magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) at 3 T appears to be superior to non-contrast methods. Gadofosveset is an intravascular contrast agent that may be well suited to this application. The purpose of this study was to perform an intra-individual comparison of gadofosveset and gadobenate for coronary MRA at 3 T. In this prospective randomized study, 22 study subjects [8 (36 %) male; 27.9 ± 6 years; BMI = 22.8 ± 2 kg/m²] underwent two studies using a contrast-enhanced inversion recovery three-dimensional fast low angle shot MRA at 3 T. The order of contrast agent administration was varied randomly, separated by an average of 30 ± 5 days, using either gadobenate dimeglumine (Gd-BOPTA; Bracco, 0.1 mmol/Kg) or gadofosveset trisodium (MS-325; Lantheus Med, 0.03 mmol/Kg). Acquisition time, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of coronary vessels and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were evaluated. Of 308 coronary arteries and veins segment analyzed, overall SNR of coronary arteries and veins segments were not different for the two contrast agents (132 ± 79 for gadofosveset vs. 135 ± 78 for gadobenate, p = 0.69). Coronary artery CNR was greater for gadofosveset in comparison to gadobenate (73.5 ± 46.9 vs. 59.3 ± 75.7 respectively, p = 0.03). Gadofosveset-enhanced MRA images displayed better image quality than gadobenate-enhanced MRA images (2.77 ± 0.61 for gadofosveset vs. 2.11 ± 0.51, p < .001). Inter- and intra-reader variability was excellent (ICC > 0.90) for both contrast agents. Gadofosveset trisodium appears to show slightly better performance for coronary MRA at 3 T compared to gadobenate.