Feasibility of multiple-mouse dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI

Dynamic contrast‐enhanced (DCE‐) MRI is often used to evaluate the response to experimental antiangiogenic therapies in small animal models of cancer. Unfortunately, DCE‐MRI studies often require a substantial investment of both time and money to achieve the desired level of statistical significance. Multiple‐mouse MRI has previously been used to improve imaging efficiency, but its feasibility for DCE‐MRI has not been investigated. The purpose of this work was to determine if multiple‐mouse DCE‐MRI is feasible when using gadolinium‐based contrast agents with a low molecular weight. A population of tumor‐bearing mice was scanned using two four‐element arrays and a single‐coil configuration on a 4.7T, 40 cm bore Bruker Biospec MRI scanner. Pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated and compared to determine if a significant difference between methodologies existed. With both four‐animal imaging configurations, animal throughput accelerations of just less than three were achieved and quantitative data were not significantly different than from single‐animal acquisitions. Magn Reson Med 58:610–615, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.