Comparison of the Relaxivities of Macrocyclic Gadolinium-Based Contrast Agents in Human Plasma at 1.5, 3, and 7 T, and Blood at 3 T

Purpose The relaxivities of 3 macrocyclic gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) were determined in human plasma and blood under standardized and clinically relevant laboratory conditions. Methods The T1 relaxivity, r1, was determined in human plasma at 1.5, 3, and 7 T, and in human blood at 3 T at 37°C in phantoms containing 4 different concentrations of the macrocyclic GBCAs gadobutrol, gadoteridol, and gadoterate. An inversion recovery turbo spin echo sequence was used to generate images with several inversion times. The T1-times were obtained by fitting the signal intensities to the signal equation. r1 was obtained by a 1/y-weighted regression of the T1-rates over the concentration of the GBCAs. Results For gadobutrol, the obtained r1 [L/(mmol·s)] in human plasma at 1.5 T, 3 T, and 7 T, and in human blood at 3 T was 4.78 ± 0.12, 4.97 ± 0.59, 3.83 ± 0.24, and 3.47 ± 0.16. For gadoteridol, r1 was 3.80 ± 0.10, 3.28 ± 0.09, 3.21 ± 0.07, and 2.61 ± 0.16, and for gadoterate, 3.32 ± 0.13, 3.00 ± 0.13, 2.84 ± 0.09, and 2.72 ± 0.17. Conclusions The relaxivity of gadobutrol is significantly higher than that of gadoteridol and gadoterate at all magnetic field strengths and in plasma as well as in blood, whereas that of gadoteridol was higher than gadoterate only in plasma at 1.5 and 7 T. This is in accordance with results from 3 previous studies obtained in different media.