Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0023890 (cirrhosis)
 42,195 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

This work was conducted to test the hypothesis that contrast-enhanced MRI with hepatocyte-specific contrast agents facilitates quantitation and mapping of diffuse liver diseases such as hepatitis and cirrhosis. Gadobenate dimeglumine (Gd-BOPTA/Dimeg, Bracco SpA, Millano, Italy) is a new paramagnetic hepatocyte-specific contrast agent currently undergoing clinical trials. We have assessed the usefulness of gadobenate dimeglumine for the diagnosis of diffuse liver diseases in a rat model of chemically induced hepatitis. The study was based on the measurements of in vivo liver relaxation times as well as on the acquisition of standard SE images. Acute hepatitis considerably reduced the degree of T1 shortening of liver parenchyma caused by intravenous injection of .25 mmol/kg of gadobenate dimeglumine. Analogously, the enhancement of the MRI signal intensity of the liver of rats with hepatitis observed in T1-weighted spin-echo (SE) images was inferior, in terms of both strength and duration, to that recorded in control rats at doses of .25 mmol/kg and .075 mmol/kg of gadobenate dimeglumine. Our results show that gadobenate dimeglumine-enhanced MR imaging has the potential for visualization of hepatitis and for assessment of liver function. Our conclusions differ from those previously published on this subject by other authors. The reasons that led to differing conclusions are discussed.
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PMID:Evaluation of the hepatocyte-specific contrast agent gadobenate dimeglumine for MR imaging of acute hepatitis in a rat model. 903 6

To determine whether gadobenate dimeglumine (BOPTA) will adequately enhance cirrhotic liver parenchyma, and to document the enhancement patterns in cirrhosis, 14 cirrhotic and 20 non-cirrhotic patients were evaluated before and 60-120 minutes after gadolinium-BOPTA. Proof of liver cirrhosis was biopsy (6), surgical resection (3), and clinical follow-up (5). Enhancement effects were compared quantitatively by determining the liver signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and signal enhancement in both populations. Qualitatively assessment of the liver enhancement was performed and classified as homogeneous or heterogeneous. Quantitative analysis: cirrhotic liver parenchyma presented a higher increase in SNR values, relative to non-cirrhotic liver parenchyma, on postcontrast images. Likewise the signal enhancement of cirrhotic liver parenchyma was superior to non-cirrhotic liver on T1-weighted SE images (P = .02) and in-phase GRE images (P < .001). There was no statistical difference on out-of-phase GRE images. Qualitative analysis: on T1-weighted SE postcontrast images, cirrhotic liver parenchyma showed a homogeneous enhancement in 7 patients and heterogeneous in 7. Whereas on GRE images, cirrhotic parenchyma showed heterogeneous enhancement in 9 patients and homogeneous in 5 patients. The heterogeneous enhancement was due to the presence of hypointense nodules in 7 patients and hyperintense nodules in 2 patients. In conclusion, our study has shown that the hepatobiliary contrast agent Gd-BOPTA is effective in the cirrhotic liver, demonstrating an increased liver enhancement compared with non-cirrhotic patients.
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PMID:Gadobenate dimeglumine (BOPTA) enhanced MR imaging: patterns of enhancement in normal liver and cirrhosis. 970 88

Hepatobiliary-specific contrast agents are one of several classes of contrast agents available for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the liver. These agents are taken up by functioning hepatocytes and excreted in the bile, and their paramagnetic properties cause shortening of the longitudinal relaxation time (T1) of the liver and biliary tree. The three contrast agents that have been developed are mangafodipir trisodium (Mn-DPDP), gadobenate dimeglumine (Gd-BOPTA), and gadoxetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA). These three MR contrast agents vary in mode of administration and dose, mechanism of cellular uptake, degree of excretion through the biliary pathway, and imaging characteristics. In the liver, hepatobiliary-specific agents can be used to improve lesion detection, to characterize lesions as hepatocellular or nonhepatocellular, and to specifically characterize some hepatocellular lesions, notably focal nodular hyperplasia. Biliary excretion of these agents can be used to evaluate the anatomic structure and function of the biliary tree. In the future, hepatobiliary-specific contrast agents may have wider applications, such as grading of cirrhosis and quantification of liver function.
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PMID:Hepatobiliary-specific MR contrast agents: role in imaging the liver and biliary tree. 1995 18