Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast MRI Using Gadopiclenol for Evaluation of Relative Cerebral Blood Volume at 3T: A Comparison with Gadobutrol

DSC MRI is widely used to assess relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) in brain tumors using gadolinium-based contrast agents. Gadopiclenol, recently FDA-approved for use at half-dose due to its high relaxivity, offers a potential strategy to reduce overall gadolinium exposure. This retrospective study evaluated DSC MRI performance with 0.05 mmol/kg gadopiclenol compared with standard dose (0.10 mmol/kg) gadobutrol. Twenty patients with brain tumors underwent gadopiclenol-based DSC MRI on 3T scanners and were compared with 20 matched controls receiving gadobutrol. Analysis of normal-appearing thalamic, frontal cortical gray matter, and WM regions showed that gadopiclenol produced DSC time curves with shapes similar to gadobutrol, though with significantly smaller signal decreases and approximately one-half the peak change of effective transverse relaxation rate values, consistent with dose scaling. Importantly, normalized rCBV values did not differ significantly between contrast agents in gray matter regions. These findings support the use of half-dose gadopiclenol for reliable rCBV assessment while reducing gadolinium exposure.