Does Gadoterate Meglumine Cause Gadolinium Retention in the Brain of Children? A Case–Control Study

BACKGROUND Accumulation of macrocyclic gadolinium agents in children's brains remain to be determined. PURPOSE To demonstrate whether there is an intracranial macrocyclic gadolinium deposition after multiple contrast-enhanced MRI with gadoterate meglumine in a pediatric population. STUDY TYPE Retrospective case-control. POPULATION In all, 45 children (age range: 5-17 years; mean, 13.7 ± 3.4 years) for the study group and 45 healthy children (age range: 5-17 years; mean, 13.7 ± 3.4 years) for the control group. FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE T1 - and T2 -weighted axial images on a 1.5T scanner. ASSESSMENT Children with at least three enhanced brain MRIs and an age- and sex-matched control group with an unenhanced brain MRIs were compared in terms of T1 signal intensity (SI). All patients in the study group received gadoterate meglumine intravenously (0.1 mmol/kg). SI measurements were made by drawing six regions of interest (ROIs): dentate nuclei (DN), pons, globus pallidi (GP), frontal white matter (FWM), thalamus (T), clivus, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for both groups on unenhanced T1 -weighted images. STATISTICAL TESTS Student's t-test was used for comparison of SI. The Pearson correlation was calculated for the correlation between the SI and the number of gadolinium administrations. RESULTS A significant difference was detected between two groups for DN/CSF, pons/CSF, GP/CSF, thalamus/CSF, and FWM/CSF (P