Clinical significance of gadobutrol in magnetic resonance imaging for the detection of myocardial infarction: matched-pair cohort study to compare with gadopentetate dimeglumine at standard dose

We aimed to confirm whether gadobutrol is more useful for late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) imaging than gadopentetate dimeglumine (Gd-DTPA) at the standard dose. Patients who underwent LGE imaging to assess myocardial infarction were retrospectively enrolled: gadobutrol, 51 cases; Gd-DTPA, 49 cases. Contrast ratios of infarcted lesion to remote myocardium (CR_remote) and to left ventricular blood (CR_blood) were compared. Patient characteristics that might affect image contrast did not differ between groups. CR_remote (median, (interquartile range)) at 10 and 15 min after administration was 0.79 (0.08) and 0.70 (0.09) for gadobutrol, and 0.74 (0.13) and 0.65 (0.16) for Gd-DTPA (P < 0.05 and < 0.05), respectively. CR_blood was − 0.05 (0.17) and − 0.002 (0.15) for gadobutrol, and − 0.05 (0.18) and 0.01 (0.16) for Gd-DTPA (P = 0.29 and = 0.22), respectively. Gadobutrol provided significantly better delineation of infarcted from normal myocardium than Gd-DTPA. Meanwhile, there was no difference in image contrast between infarcted myocardium and left ventricular blood.