Sriwijaya Journal of Radiology and Imaging Research
Vol. 3 No. 2 (2025): Sriwijaya Journal of Radiology and Imaging Research

Deep-Learning Pharmacokinetic Modelling for Personalised Low-Dose Gadolinium in Oncological 3.0-T MRI: A Diagnostic-Accuracy Study

Oliva Azalia Putri (Department of Surgery, CMHC Research Center, Palembang, Indonesia)
Sony Sanjaya (Department of Medical Biology, CMHC Research Center, Palembang, Indonesia)



Article Info

Publish Date
13 Jul 2026

Abstract

Introduction: Weight-based dosing of gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCA; 0.1 mmol/kg) in oncological MRI disregards individual haemodynamics and tumour microvascularity, contributing to avoidable cumulative exposure and tissue-retention risk. We evaluated an artificial-intelligence (AI)-assisted pharmacokinetic-modelling approach to personalise and reduce GBCA dose while preserving diagnostic performance. Methods: In this prospective, paired diagnostic-accuracy study reported per STARD 2015 at a tertiary hospital in Palembang, Indonesia, 152 adults (198 lesions) with histologically confirmed solid primary malignancies underwent 3.0-T contrast-enhanced MRI. A convolutional-neural-network extended-Tofts model derived each patient’s minimum effective gadobutrol dose, compared against the standard 0.1 mmol/kg protocol. Two radiologists, blinded to clinical data and to a composite reference standard (histopathology and ≥6-month imaging follow-up), assessed signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), 5-point diagnostic confidence and lesion characterisation. Sensitivity, specificity, AUC (DeLong), likelihood ratios, Cohen’s κ and McNemar testing were computed with 95% confidence intervals. Results: The AI protocol reduced GBCA dose by 38.4% (4.6 vs 7.5 mL; p<0.001). Sensitivity was 95.2% (95% CI 90.9–97.6), specificity 83.3% (66.4–92.7) and AUC 0.94 (0.90–0.97) versus 0.95 (0.91–0.98) for standard dose (DeLong p=0.620; McNemar p=0.773). SNR and CNR were non-inferior (all p>0.05). Inter-reader agreement was substantial-to-almost-perfect (characterisation κ 0.83; confidence κ 0.88). Diagnostic adequacy was maintained in 149/152 cases (98%). Conclusion: AI-assisted pharmacokinetic modelling enabled a 38% gadolinium-dose reduction without loss of diagnostic accuracy or image quality, supporting personalised contrast administration and lower cumulative exposure in oncological MRI.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

sjrir

Publisher

Subject

Dentistry Health Professions Medicine & Pharmacology Neuroscience Physics

Description

Focus Sriwijaya Journal of Radiology and Imaging Research (SJRIR) focused on the development of medical sciences especially radiology & imaging research for human well-being. Scope Sriwijaya Journal of Radiology and Imaging Research (SJRIR) publishes articles which encompass all aspects of basic ...