Comparison of animal studies between interstitial magnetic resonance lymphography and radiocolloid SPECT/CT lymphoscintigraphy in the head and neck region

Objective To comparatively assess two techniques, radiocolloid SPECT/CT lymphoscintigraphy and interstitial MR lymphography using SPIO and gadoxetate disodium, in animal models. Materials and methods We used twenty one 8-week-old male nude mice of strain BALB/c Slc-nu/nu, weighing 23–27 g. The 4.7-T MRI equipment was used to detect the SNs. T2*WI of gradient-echo sequences was acquired sequentially up to 24 h after administering SPIO, ferucarbotran. T1WI was acquired sequentially up to 80 min after administering gadoxetate disodium. 99m Tc-phytate SPECT/CT lymphoscintigraphy was taken at 30 min after the injection to detect the SNs using animal-dedicated whole-body SPECT/CT hybrid scanner. The injection was submucosally performed in the right tongue margin of each mouse. Reading performances concerning SN visualization and its quality on interstitial MR lymphogram and SPECT/CT lymphoscintigram were performed by 3 radiologists. Results The SN intensities were 0.43 for the right, 0.61 for the left at 30 min after ferucarbotran injection, with gradual decrease in intensity, and 1.43 for the right, 1.33 for the left at 10 min after gadoxetate disodium injection with a fast decrease in intensity. The base value of 1.0 was at pre-examination. The mean numbers of lymph nodes visualized were 4.00 nodes for on SPECT/CT lymphoscintigram and 2.0 for interstitial MR lymphogram. There was a statistically significant difference in the mean scores between SPECT/CT lymphoscintigraphy and interstitial MR lymphography (two factor mixed design with repeated measures on one factor: p