Comprehensive comparison of MR image quality between intratympanic and intravenous gadolinium injection using 3D real IR sequences

Abstract

Background: Intratympanic and intravenous gadolinium administration is used to visualise endolymphatic hydrops.

Aims/objectives: The goal of this study was to compare the image quality between intratympanic (IT-method) and intravenous (IV-method) gadolinium administration using three-dimensional inversion recovery with real reconstruction (3D real IR) sequences.

Materials and methods: A number of 152 patients with Meniere’s disease were included. The 3D real IR sequence was performed 24 h after IT administration or 4 h after IV administration. The detection rate of endolymphatic hydrops, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the two methods were compared. Specifically, the average image scores of the two methods were evaluated by two radiologists.

Results: The SNR_ROI and CNRs of the IT-method were higher than those of the IV-method, whereas no significant difference between the IT-method and IV-method with regard to the SNR_B was found. The average image scores were 3.49 ± 0.12 and 3.30 ± 0.12 for the IT-method and IV-method, respectively (p = .229). No statistically significant difference was found between two methods in terms of the detection rate of endolymphatic hydrops.

Conclusions and significance: IT-method images can display endolymphatic hydrops more precisely than IV-method images. The IV-method can be used as an alternative to the IT-method in clinical applications to some extent.

背景：鼓室内和静脉注射钆是用来显现内淋巴积水。

目的：本研究的目的是比较鼓室内（IT法）和静脉内（IV法）钆给药（使用三维倒置恢复和真实重建（3D真红外线）序列）的图像质量。

材料与方法：对152例梅尼埃病患者进行回顾性分析。在鼓室内注射24小时或静脉注射4小时后进行三维真红外线序列分析。比较了两种方法的内淋巴积水检出率、信噪比（SNR）和反差噪声比（CNR）。两种方法的平均图像评分由两名放射科医生进行评估。

结果：IT法的信噪比和反差噪声比均高于IV法, 而IT法与IV法在信噪比方面无显著性差异。IT法和IV法的平均图像评分分别为3.49 ± 0.12和3.30 ± 0.12（P = 0.229）。两种方法对内淋巴积水的检出率无统计学差异。

结论及意义：鼓室内注射法比静脉注射法更准确地显示内淋巴积液。静脉注射法在一定程度上可在临床应用中作为鼓室内法的替代方法。

KEYWORDS:

• Endolymphatic hydrops
• intratympanic gadolinium administration
• intravenous gadolinium administration
• 3D real IR

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Shanghai Shenkang Hospital Development Center clinical assistant department capacity building project under Grant [SHDC22015036].