The Uptake of Manganese Dipyridoxal-Diphosphate by Chemically Induced Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Rats; A Correlation between Contrast-Media-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Tumor Differentiation, and Vascularization

Ni Y, Marchal G, Zhang X, van Hecke P, Michiels J, Yu J, Rummeny E, Lodemann K-P, Baert AL. The uptake of manganese dipyridoxal-diphosphate by chemically induced hepatocellular carcinoma in ratsa correlation between contrastmedia-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging, tumor differentiation, and vascularization. Invest Radiol 1993;28520–528.OBJECTIVES AND RATIONALE. Negative enhancement of implanted liver tumors has been achieved in preclinical studies on manganese dipyridoxal-diphosphate (Mn-DPDP), a new hepatobiliary specific contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The authors investigated the effects of Mn-DPDP on primary liver cancer and its possible mechanisms.METHODS. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 15 rats with chemically induced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) before and after Mn-DPDP injection. Both tumor-liver contrast-to-noise ratio and absolute tumor enhancement were evaluated and compared with the MRI results of a nonspecific contrast agent, gadolinium-DOTA, and correlated with corresponding microangiographic and histologic findings.RESULTS. Mn-DPDP injection led to a persistent positive enhancement in differentiated solid HCCs (22/23) with maximal conspicuity at 24 hours. Undifferentiated HCCs were all delineated by a prompt negative enhancement (20/20) with maximal conspcuity within 30 minutes.