nichtkontrastierten

Nichtkontrastierten is the attributive form of the participle from the German verb kontrastieren and is used to describe images, studies, or materials that were prepared or captured without a contrast agent. In medical imaging and related fields, the term denotes non-contrast procedures, meaning that no intravenous or other contrast medium was used to enhance tissue differentiation during the exam. The corresponding adjective forms vary with case, number, and gender, and phrases such as nichtkontrastierte Aufnahmen or nichtkontrastierte CT-Aufnahmen are common in practice. The exact inflection of nichtkontrastierten depends on the noun it modifies.

In radiology, non-contrast imaging serves specific clinical purposes. Non-contrast CT scans, for example, are frequently employed to detect kidney stones, acute hemorrhage, or calcifications, and to establish baseline anatomy before introducing contrast in a follow-up study. Magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, and other modalities may also be performed without contrast when contrast use is unnecessary, contraindicated, or poses additional risk to the patient. While nichtkontrastierte studies reduce the risk of contrast-related adverse effects and lower cost and examination time, they may offer less tissue characterization and may be less sensitive for detecting certain lesions compared with contrast-enhanced studies.

Beyond medicine, nichtkontrastierten can appear in imaging disciplines such as photography and computer vision, referring to images or datasets captured without artificial enhancement of contrast. In such contexts, the term helps distinguish baseline or raw imagery from post-processed, contrast-enhanced, or feature-enhanced data.

See also: Kontrastmittel, Radiologie, Bildgebung, CT, MRT, Ultraschall.