They behave very much like iodinated agents used in CT, but they are safer, with fewer adverse reactions, and yield more dramatic enhancement with a lower volume of contrast. The value of these agents can be illustrated by a couple of cases, beginning with the one shown in figures 23 and 24 . This is a patient with breast cancer. The problem, of course, is that this patient has breast cancer. Gadolinium chelates can play a key role in characterizing lesions, particularly lesions that are smaller than a centimeter.
Nothing is visible in either liver.
Figure 29 Figure 30 Figure 29 is a STIR image of one patient, and figure 30 is a T2-weighted image of another patient. Nothing can be seen on either of these images except for the obvious hemangioma. Figure 31 Figure 32 Figure 33 Portal venous phase images of both of these cases are seen in figures 31 and 32 . Again, no lesions are seen. What was being overlooked in the first case was the pancreatic metastasis that was only seen in the arterial phase of the injection, seen in figure 33 .