Enhancement patterns

Enhancement patterns

Administration of Gadolinium results in uptake of the contrast agent into both normal and injured myocardium.
In normal myocardium there will be early wash out of contrast.
In injured myocardium the wash out is very slow resulting in delayed enhancement after 10 - 15 minutes compared to the normal myocardium.

Delayed enhancement of myocardial tissue is seen in many pathophysiologic scenarios:

• Retention of contrast material by fibrous tissue
• Increased extravascular space
• Inflammation
• Tumor neovasculature in primary and secondary tumors