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Use of SPIOs for Clinical Liver Imaging

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Nanoparticles in Biomedical Imaging

Part of the book series: Fundamental Biomedical Technologies ((FBMT,volume 102))

Abstract

Superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) particles are as MR contrast media composed of iron oxide crystals coated with dextran or carboxydextran. These particles are sequestered by phagocytic Kupffer cells in the normal reticuloendothelial system (RES), but are not retained in tumor tissue. Consequently, there are significant differences in /T2 *. 2 relaxation between normal RES tissue and tumors. This results in an increased lesion conspicuity and detectability. The introduction of SPIO has been expected to substantially increase the detectability of hepatic metastases. For focal hepatocellular lesions, it has been documented that SPIO-enhanced MR imaging exhibits slightly better diagnostic performance than dynamic helical CT in the detection of hypervascular hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A combination of dynamic and static MR-imaging technique using T1-and T2-imaging criteria appears to provide clinically more useful patterns of enhancement. SPIO-enhanced MR imaging also provides information useful for differential diagnosis, via enhancement of hemangiomas and RES-containing tumors. With the exploitation of rapid T2 *-sensitive sequences, SPIO-enhanced dynamic MR imaging may become comparable to gadolinium-enhanced dynamic MR imaging and dynamic studies with multi-detector-row CT. SPIO-enhanced MR imaging plays an important role in therapeutic decision-making for patients with malignant hepatic tumors.

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Authors
  1. Akihiro Tanimoto
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 720 Rutland Avenue, Baltimore, 21205

    Jeff W.M. Bulte

  2. Institute of Psychiatry King’s College London, Center for the Cellular Basis of Behaviour, 125 Coldharbour Lane, London SE5 9NU, United Kingdom

    Michel M.J. Modo

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Tanimoto, A. (2008). Use of SPIOs for Clinical Liver Imaging. In: Bulte, J.W., Modo, M.M. (eds) Nanoparticles in Biomedical Imaging. Fundamental Biomedical Technologies, vol 102. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-72027-2_4

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