Paramagnetic substances, for example Gd-DTPA solutions, are used as MRI oral contrast agents in gastrointestinal imaging to depict the lumen of the digestive organs. Different Gd-DTPA solutions or zeolites containing gadolinium can be used e.g., for diagnosis of delayed gastric emptying, diagnosis of Crohn's disease etc.
Low concentrations of gastrointestinal paramagnetic contrast agents cause a reduction in T1 relaxation time; consequently, these agents act on T1 weighted images by increasing the signal intensity of the bowel lumen. High concentrations cause T2 shortening by decreasing the signal, similar to superparamagnetic iron oxide. Gd-DTPA chelates are unstable at the low pH in the stomach, therefore buffering is necessary for oral use.

See also Gadopentetate Gastrointestinal, Gadolinium Zeolite, Negative Oral Contrast Agents, Gastrointestinal Superparamagnetic Contrast Agents, and Ferric ammonium citrate.

Gastrointestinal (GI) superparamagnetic contrast agents are used in MRI to improve the visualization of e.g., the intestinal tract, the pancreas (see MRCP), etc. Disadvantages are susceptibility artifacts e.g., dependent on delayed imaging or large volumes resulting in artifacts in the colon and distal small bowel loops related to higher concentration of the particles and absorption of the fluid.
Different types of MRI gastrointestinal superparamagnetic contrast agents:
Usually gastrointestinal superparamagnetic contrast media consist of small iron oxide crystals (ferrites), which produce a signal reduction in the stomach and bowel after oral administration. The T2 shortening caused by these particles is produced from the local magnetic field inhomogeneities associated with the large magnetic moments of superparamagnetic particles. Ferrites are iron oxides of the general formula Fe203.MO, where M is a divalent metal ion and may be mixed with Fe3O4 in different preparations. Ferrites can produce symptoms of nausea after oral administration, as well as flatulence and a transient rise in serum iron. Embedding in inert substances reduce side effects by decreasing the absorption and interaction with body tissues. Combining these contrast materials with polymers such as polyethylene glycol or cellulose, or with sugars such as dextrose, results in improved T1 and/or T2 relaxivity compared with that of the contrast agent alone.

See also Negative Oral Contrast Agents, Gastrointestinal Diamagnetic Contrast Agents, Relaxivity, and Combination Oral Contrast Agents.

A contrast medium (or contrast agent) is a chemical substance introduced to the anatomical or functional region being imaged, to increase the differences between different tissues or between normal and abnormal tissue, by altering the relaxation times.
The chemical composition of the contrast media determines the specific usage. Similar to nuclear imaging is the intention in development of MR contrast media a high affinity to different organs or even tumors (e.g. necrosis avid contrast agent).
In 'contrast' to nuclear imaging contrast agents MR contrast media do not contain radiopharmaceuticals and the concentrations are about 100 times higher. Nuclear imaging contrast agents are direct contrast agents;; they are directly visible caused by their radioactivity. MR contrast agents affect the targeted tissue; they are indirect contrast agents.
See also Contrast Agents, the info sheet gives an overview and more in-depth information about different types of MRI contrast medium.

Contrast enhanced MRI is a commonly used procedure in magnetic resonance imaging. The need to more accurately characterize different types of lesions and to detect all malignant lesions is the main reason for the use of intravenous contrast agents.
Some methods are available to improve the contrast of different tissues. The focus of dynamic contrast enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) is on contrast kinetics with demands for spatial resolution dependent on the application. DCE-MR imaging is used for diagnosis of cancer (see also liver imaging, abdominal imaging, breast MRI, dynamic scanning) as well as for diagnosis of cardiac infarction (see perfusion imaging, cardiac MRI). Quantitative DCE-MRI requires special data acquisition techniques and analysis software.
Contrast enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CE-MRA) allows the visualization of vessels and the temporal resolution provides a separation of arteries and veins. These methods share the need for acquisition methods with high temporal and spatial resolution.
Double contrast administration (combined contrast enhanced (CCE) MRI) uses two contrast agents with complementary mechanisms e.g., superparamagnetic iron oxide to darken the background liver and gadolinium to brighten the vessels. A variety of different categories of contrast agents are currently available for clinical use.
Reasons for the use of contrast agents in MRI scans are:
Common Indications:
Brain MRI : Preoperative/pretreatment evaluation and postoperative evaluation of brain tumor therapy, CNS infections, noninfectious inflammatory disease and meningeal disease.
Spine MRI : Infection/inflammatory disease, primary tumors, drop metastases, initial evaluation of syrinx, postoperative evaluation of the lumbar spine: disk vs. scar.
Breast MRI : Detection of breast cancer in case of dense breasts, implants, malignant lymph nodes, or scarring after treatment for breast cancer, diagnosis of a suspicious breast lesion in order to avoid biopsy.

For Ultrasound Imaging (USI) see Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound at Medical-Ultrasound-Imaging.com. See also Blood Pool Agents, Myocardial Late Enhancement, Cardiovascular Imaging, Contrast Enhanced MR Venography, Contrast Resolution, Dynamic Scanning, Lung Imaging, Hepatobiliary Contrast Agents, Contrast Medium and MRI Guided Biopsy.

Liver imaging can be performed with sonography, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Ultrasound is, caused by the easy access, still the first-line imaging method of choice; CT and MRI are applied whenever ultrasound imaging yields vague results. Indications are the characterization of metastases and primary liver tumors e.g., benign lesions such as focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH), adenoma, hemangioma and malignant lesions (cancer) such as hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC). The decision, which medical imaging modality is more suitable, MRI or CT, is dependent on the different factors. CT is less costly and more widely available; modern multislice scanners provide high spatial resolution and short scan times but has the disadvantage of radiation exposure.
With the introduction of high performance MR systems and advanced sequences the image quality of MRI for the liver has gained substantially. Fast spin echo or single shot techniques, often combined with fat suppression, are the most common T2 weighted sequences used in liver MRI procedures. Spoiled gradient echo sequences are used as ideal T1 weighted sequences for evaluating of the liver. The repetition time (TR) can be sufficiently long to acquire enough sections covering the entire liver in one pass, and to provide good signal to noise. The TE should be the shortest in phase echo time (TE), which provides strong T1 weighting, minimizes magnetic susceptibility effects, and permits acquisition within one breath hold to cover the whole liver. A flip angle of 80° provides good T1 weighting and less of power deposition and tissue saturation than a larger flip angle that would provide comparable T1 weighting.
Liver MRI is very dependent on the administration of contrast agents, especially when detection and characterization of focal lesions are the issues. Liver MRI combined with MRCP is useful to evaluate patients with hepatic and biliary disease.
Gadolinium chelates are typical non-specific extracellular agents diffusing rapidly to the extravascular space of tissues being cleared by glomerular filtration at the kidney. These characteristics are somewhat problematic when a large organ with a huge interstitial space like the liver is imaged. These agents provide a small temporal imaging window (seconds), after which they begin to diffuse to the interstitial space not only of healthy liver cells but also of lesions, reducing the contrast gradient necessary for easy lesion detection. Dynamic MRI with multiple phases after i.v. contrast media (Gd chelates), with arterial, portal and late phase images (similar to CT) provides additional information.
An additional advantage of MRI is the availability of liver-specific contrast agents (see also Hepatobiliary Contrast Agents). Gd-EOB-DTPA (gadoxetate disodium, Gadolinium ethoxybenzyl dimeglumine, EOVIST Injection, brand name in other countries is Primovist) is a gadolinium-based MRI contrast agent approved by the FDA for the detection and characterization of known or suspected focal liver lesions.
Gd-EOB-DTPA provides dynamic phases after intravenous injection, similarly to non-specific gadolinium chelates, and distributes into the hepatocytes and bile ducts during the hepatobiliary phase. It has up to 50% hepatobiliary excretion in the normal liver.
Since ferumoxides are not eliminated by the kidney, they possess long plasmatic half-lives, allowing circulation for several minutes in the vascular space. The uptake process is dependent on the total size of the particle being quicker for larger particles with a size of the range of 150 nm (called superparamagnetic iron oxide). The smaller ones, possessing a total particle size in the order of 30 nm, are called ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide particles and they suffer a slower uptake by RES cells. Intracellular contrast agents used in liver MRI are primarily targeted to the normal liver parenchyma and not to pathological cells. Currently, iron oxide based MRI contrast agents are not marketed.
Beyond contrast enhanced MRI, the detection of fatty liver disease and iron overload has clinical significance due to the potential for evolution into cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Imaging-based liver fat quantification (see also Dixon) provides noninvasively information about fat metabolism; chemical shift imaging or T2*-weighted imaging allow the quantification of hepatic iron concentration.

See also Abdominal Imaging, Primovistâ„¢, Liver Acquisition with Volume Acquisition (LAVA), T1W High Resolution Isotropic Volume Examination (THRIVE) and Bolus Injection.

For Ultrasound Imaging (USI) see Liver Sonography at Medical-Ultrasound-Imaging.com.