Teslascan is an isotonic, clear, yellow solution that is available as a ready-to-use formulation at a concentration of 0.01 mmol/ml in 50ml glass vials. The clinical dose is 5 µmol/kg body weight, which equals 0.5 ml/kg body weight. The mode of administration is intravenous infusion at a slow rate of 2-3 ml/min.
Prior to the administration of any contrast material, breath-hold axial and coronal half-Fourier acquisition single-shot turbo spin echo (HASTE) images are acquired using the following parameters: TR/effective TE/refocusing angle = ¥ /62 ms/140-160 ° , imaging matrix of 128-192 x 256, field of view 300 - 375 mm, 4 mm slice thickness, rectangular field of view depending on body habitus, 15 – 20 slices per breath hold . At least three oblique coronal heavily T2-weighted turbo spin echo imaging (TR/effective TE/flip angle, 2800/1100/150-180 ° , matrix 240 x 256, field of view 300-375 mm, 20-60 mm section thickness with optional rectangular field-of-view) is also performed, each within a single breath hold acquisition.
At the end of the routine MRCP exam, an intravenous injection of Teslascan at a standard dose of 5 m mol/kg (0.1 ml/kg, up to a maximum of 15 ml) is administered via a slow injection over 1 to 2 minutes followed by a 10 ml saline flush. Ten to 15 minutes after injection, axial and coronal volumetric 3D spoiled gradient echo acquisitions of the liver and biliary system is performed using two volumetric interpolated breath-hold exam sequences with intermittent fat-suppression pulses: a higher resolution sequence acquired coronally with limited coverage through the biliary ducts: TR/TE/flip angle = 6.8/2.3/25-40 ° , 128-256 x 512 matrix, 350-450 mm FOV using rectangular field-of-view depending on body habitus, 24 partitions interpolated to 48 slices with £ 1.5 mm thickness; and, a lower resolution sequence performed axially to include the entire liver: TR/TE/flip angle = 4.5/1.9/25-40 ° , 128-160 x 256 matrix, 300-375 mm FOV using rectangular field-of-view, and 80-112 partitions for £ 2 mm slice thickness (18) . Imaging time for all sequences is kept less than 25 seconds to facilitate breath-holding during the acquisition. Subsequent post-processing such as subtraction and multiplanar reconstructions can be performed on the post-Teslascan sequence for better delineation of hepatobiliary anatomy.
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