Intracranial lesion enhancement with gadolinium: T1-weighted spin-echo versus three-dimensional Fourier transform gradient-echo MR imaging.

The conspicuity of lesion enhancement with gadopentetate dimeglumine was evaluated subjectively and quantitatively through calculation of contrast-to-noise ratios (C/Ns) on T1-weighted three-dimensional (3D) Fourier transform (FT) gradient-echo (GRE) and two-dimensional (2D) FT spin-echo (SE) images of the brain in 406 consecutive patients. One hundred one enhancing intracranial lesions were present in 61 patients, including intra-(n = 76) and extraaxial (n = 25) processes of neoplastic (n = 68), infectious or inflammatory (n = 13), ischemic (n = 11), or vascular (n = 9) origin. Enhancement was apparent in all lesions on 2DFT SE and 3DFT GRE images, with similar subjective conspicuity in 86.8% (87 of 101) of lesions. Quantitative C/N measurements for 2DFT SE (mean, 17.6) and 3DFT GRE (mean, 17.2) imaging were not significantly different (P = .72). These findings, along with the other advantages of 3DFT GRE imaging, indicate that 3DFT GRE examinations are likely to play a major role in the performance of contrast-enhanced MR imaging of the brain.