Carboxymethyldextran (CMD)-A2-Gd-DOTA, a slow clearance blood pool contrast agent with a molecular weight of 52.1 kDa, designed to have intravascular residence for more than 1 h, was evaluated for its potential to characterize and differentiate the microvessels of malignant and benign breast tumors. Precontrast single-slice inversion-recovery snapshot FLASH and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI using an axial T1-weighted three-dimensional spoiled gradient recalled sequence was performed in 30 Sprague-Dawley rats with chemically induced breast tumors. Endothelial transfer coefficient and fractional plasma volume of the breast tumors were estimated from MRI data acquired with CMD-A2-Gd-DOTA enhancement injected at a dose of 0.1 mmol Gd/kg body weight using a two-compartment bidirectional model of the tumor tissue. The correlation between MRI microvessel characteristics and histopathological tumor grade was determined using the Scarff-Bloom-Richardson method. Using CMD-A2-Gd-DOTA, no significant correlations were found between the MR-estimated endothelial transfer coefficient or plasma volumes with histological tumor grade. Analysis of CMD-A2-Gd-DOTA-enhanced MR kinetic data failed to demonstrate feasibility for the differentiation of benign from malignant tumors or for image-based tumor grading.

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doi.org/10.1007/s00330-005-2823-9, hdl.handle.net/1765/60825
European Radiology: journal of the European Congress of Radiology
Department of Radiology

Preda, A., Brasch, R., Novikov, V., Möglich, M., Floyd, E., Turetschek, K., … Carter, W. (2005). Magnetic resonance characterization of tumor microvessels in experimental breast tumors using a slow clearance blood pool contrast agent (carboxymethyldextran-A2-Gd-DOTA) with histopathological correlation. European Radiology: journal of the European Congress of Radiology, 15(11), 2268–2275. doi:10.1007/s00330-005-2823-9