Why Gadolinium Is Used?

Gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) help doctors see abnormal tissues in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans with more detail. They help doctors diagnose inflammation, tumors and blood clots by providing them with clearer, brighter images from inside the body.

Why do we use gadolinium?

Gadolinium contrast medium is used in about 1 in 3 of MRI scans to improve the clarity of the images or pictures of your body's internal structures. This improves the diagnostic accuracy of the MRI scan. For example, it improves the visibility of inflammation, tumours, blood vessels and, for some organs, blood supply.

Why only gadolinium is used in MRI?

Chemistry. The gadolinium ion is useful as an MRI contrast agent because it has seven unpaired electrons, which is the greatest number of unpaired electron spins possible for an atom. Gadolinium molecules shorten the spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) of voxels in which they are present.