Detection of hepatic metastasis: Manganese- and ferucarbotran-enhanced MR imaging

Purpose: To compare the mangafodipir trisodium (MnDPDP)-enhanced and ferucarbotran-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the detection of hepatic metastases. Material and methods: Twenty patients with known hepatic metastasis underwent MR imaging using mangafodipir trisodium and ferucarbotran in at least 1-day intervals. Thirty-eight metastases were confirmed either histologically or clinically. Two radiologists independently reviewed the MnDPDP-enhanced and ferucarbotran-enhanced sets in a random order. The sensitivity and accuracy of lesion detection and the ability to distinguish a benign lesion from a malignant lesion were compared by the areas (Az) under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The lesion-liver contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR) were compared by paired t-test. Results: The overall accuracy for detecting metastases was not significantly different between the MnDPDP set (Az = 0.912 and 0.913 for reader 1 and 2, respectively) and the SPIO set (Az = 0.920 and 0.950). The CNR at the MnDPDP-enhanced images and the SPIO-enhanced images were not significantly different (P = 0.146). Conclusion: Both MnDPDP- and ferucarbotran-enhanced MRI have a comparable accuracy in detecting hepatic metastasis. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.