Background: Reduction in gadolinium (Gd) contrast agents is wanted due to the uncertainty of the potential side effects. Purpose: To investigate whether it is possible to reduce the contrast dose from conventional double dose to single dose when increasing the field strength from 1.5-T to 3-T for separating early cartilage degeneration from healthy cartilage, assessed by delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage (dGEMRIC). Material and Methods: Nine patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA), Kellgren–Lawrence grade (KLG) 1–4, were recruited from an ongoing weight loss cohort study. dGEMRIC was performed at 3-T using single (0.1 mmoI/kg) and double (0.2 mmoI/kg) doses of intravenous (i.v.) Gd-DTPA
^2-. Regions of interest (ROls) were drawn around the posterior weight-bearing femoral knee cartilage in lateral and medial compartments. In five medial compartments ROIs could not be drawn due to severe degeneration of cartilage. T1-relaxation times were compared to previously published values from 1.5-T and to non-contrast values from 3-T. Results: Mean dGEMRIC T1-relaxation time in the lateral compartment was 769 ms for single dose vs. 561 ms for double dose (P < 0.0001); and 685 ms for single dose vs. 454 ms for double dose (P = 0.004) in the medial compartment. Conclusion: We found a dose-response relationship between single and double doses of Gd-DTPA
^2- using 3-T in knee OA patients, similar to the findings at 1.5-T. Compared to the T1-relaxation time at 3-T without contrast (1240 ms), this further separation between OA and normal cartilage indicates that “single dose” dGEMRIC could be sufficient for cartilage health assessment at 3-T.

GOALS: It is unclear whether social inequality exists for mortality after stroke. Results of studies on the relation between socioeconomic position (SEP) and mortality after stroke have been inconsistent and inconclusive.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We studied the association between SEP expressed by income and the risk of death after stroke by merging data on incident stroke from Danish registries with nationwide coverage. We identified all incident cases of stroke hospitalized in Denmark 2003-2012 (n = 60503). Patients were followed up to 9years after stroke (median 2.6 years). Adjusting for age and sex we studied all-cause death and cause-specific death by stroke, cardiac disease, cancer, and other diseases certified by death records and stratified by income.

RESULTS: Of the patients 20,953 (34.6%) had died within follow-up: Death by stroke 8018 (13.2%); cardiac disease 4250 (7.0%); cancer 3060 (5.0%); other diseases 5625 (9.2%). Long-term mortality rates were inversely related to income for all causes of death. The difference in mortality between the lowest and the highest income group at 5years after stroke was 15.5% (relative) and 5.7% (absolute). Differences in short-term mortality (1-month to 1-year) between income groups were small and clinically insignificant.

CONCLUSIONS: Social inequality in mortality after stroke expressed by income was pronounced for long-term mortality while not for short-term mortality. It seems that social inequality is expressed in a greater risk among stroke patients with low income for the advent of new diseases subsequently leading to death rather than in their ability to survive the incident stroke.