Improved left ventricular endocardial border delineation and opacification with OPTISON (FS069), a new echocardiographic contrast agent

Abstract

OPTISON appears to be a safe, well-tolerated echocardiographic contrast agent that is superior to ALBUNEX.

Contrast-enhanced versus non-enhanced three-dimensional echocardiography of left ventricular volumes

“…19 Several earlier studies investigated the influence of contrast enhancement on LV endocardial wall visibility and volume measurements using both 2DE and 3DE, as described schematically in table 2. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]25 Among these, the results of two 2D studies using the ultrasound contrast agent Levovist are in line with the present study (a significant increase in LV volumes), effects that were ascribed to ultrasound contrast filling up intertrabecular space. 17,19 A similar study with EchoGen showed a small but significant decrease in LV end-diastolic volume, and no change in LV endsystolic volume and ejection fraction measurements.…”

“…Consistently, ultrasound contrast infusion led to improved endocardial visibility [11][12][13][14][15][16]18,21,25 and (when assessed) to improved volume measurement reproducibility. 17,19,21,22 In our patient group acoustic windows were good even without ultrasound contrast enhancement, but with the 3DE method we used, image reconstruction inherently causes a slight deterioration in image quality.…”

“…We did, however, feel that the endocardial contour was easier to trace with contrast enhancement, which is in accordance with virtually all studies on endocardial visibility using ultrasound contrast enhancement. [11][12][13][14][15]18,25 Conceivably, the advent of real-time 3D echocardiography, in which blurring inherent to reconstruction algorithms is circumvented, holds new promises for increased measurement reproducibility by contrast enhancement.…”

“…To improve LV endocardial definition in the substantial amount of patients with limited echogenicity, administration of intravenous ultrasound contrast agents is increasingly advocated, with a reported success rate of >95%. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Besides improved endocardial border definition, several studies observed larger LV volumes following ultrasound contrast administration. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] This may be explained by the fact that the LV contrast fills up the intertrabecular space, thereby delineating the outermost rather than the innermost endocardial contour.…”

Vascular lesions and s-thrombomodulin concentrations from auricular arteries of rabbits infused with microbubble contrast agent and exposed to pulsed ultrasound

“…Thus, the medical and biomedical engineering communities have recognized that one factor that can contribute to reducing the death rate attributable to coronary heart disease is early detection and diagnosis (Asanuma et al 2004;Bruce et al 2004;Chen et al 2004;Dawson et al 2003;Takeuchi et al 2004;Yip et al 2003;Zhuang et al 2004). To this end, microbubble ultrasound (US) echogenic contrast imaging agents (CAs) were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in cardiology in the USA health care market (Al-Mansour et al 2000;Clark and Dittrich 2000;Cohen et al 1998;Malhotra et al 2000;Mulvagh et al 2000).…”