Multicenter, double-blind, randomized, intra-individual crossover comparison of gadobenate dimeglumine and gadopentetate dimeglumine in MRI of brain tumors at 3 tesla.

To prospectively compare 0.1 mmol/kg doses of gadobenate dimeglumine and gadopentetate dimeglumine for contrast-enhanced MRI of brain lesions at 3 Tesla (T).Forty-six randomized patients underwent a first examination with gadobenate dimeglumine (n = 23) or gadopentetate dimeglumine (n = 23) and then, after 2-7 days, a second examination with the other agent. Contrast administration (volume, rate), sequence parameters (T1wSE; T1wGRE), and interval between injection and image acquisition were identical for examinations in each patient. Three blinded neuroradiologists evaluated images qualitatively (lesion delineation, lesion enhancement, global preference) and quantitatively (lesion-to-brain ratio [LBR], contrast-to-noise ratio [CNR], \% lesion enhancement). Differences were assessed using Wilcoxon's signed-rank test. Reader agreement was determined using kappa (kappa) statistics.There were no demographic differences between groups. The three readers preferred gadobenate dimeglumine globally in 22 (53.7\%), 21 (51.2\%), and 27 (65.9\%) patients, respectively, compared with 0, 1, and 0 patients for gadopentetate dimeglumine. Similar significant (P < 0.001) preference was expressed for lesion border delineation and enhancement. Reader agreement was consistently good (kappa = 0.48-0.64). Significantly (P < 0.05) higher LBR (+43.5- 61.2\%), CNR (+51.3-147.6\%), and \% lesion enhancement (+45.9-49.5\%) was noted with gadobenate dimeglumine.Brain lesion depiction at 3T is significantly improved with 0.1 mmol/kg gadobenate dimeglumine.