Visualisation of normal and abnormal brain vasculature with different ferumoxytol doses.

e13517Background: Ferumoxytol is an iron oxide nanoparticle, marketed for iron replacement therapy. Off label use as an MRI contrast agent allows visualization of cerebral vasculature in the early blood pool phase without early contrast enhancement obscuring the vessels as seen with small molecular gadolinium. This study tested the optimal ferumoxytol dose for visualization of normal and abnormal cerebral vasculature. Methods: MRI images of 75 subjects enrolled in imaging research protocols were analyzed. Vascular visualization was tested in high resolution gradient echo T2*-weighted images acquired after 1mg/kg, 3mg/kg and 7mg/kg (up to 510mg) ferumoxytol doses. Visualization of normal and abnormal vasculature was separately evaluated as “poor, moderate or clear”. Degree of blooming artifact was graded as “none, mild and marked”. Overall clarity of the image was visually assessed as “poor, moderate and very clear”. The probability of abnormal vasculature visualization being “moderate” or “clear” was test...