SPIOs

[AndrewBworth]

Where I am currently working - we use Eovist for abdomen routines which examine specifically the health of liver cells (cirrhosis, hepatitis with suspected cirrhosis, known liver carcinoma, etc.) The contrast is administered fairly early on in the protocol, after which there are approximately 15 minutes of scans to do before a "20 minute" hepatobiliary stage is imaged (Supposedly the window to acquire this image extends to 2 hours).
I have noticed that T2 lowering agents made from carbohydrate coated iron oxide nanoparticles also require this 20 minute delay before the hepatobiliary "money shot". Can any other imaging be achieved after administration of this agent? Are there any advantages to their use? I would suspect that with a carbohydrate surface - the nanoparticles would be easily tuneable compared to gadolinium agents, to interact with specific targets.