title: Clinical utility of the transpulmonary echo enhancing agent Levovist to improve diagnostic confidence in echocardiography.
abstract: Echo enhancing agents have been used in echocardiography since 1968 for a variety of applications. Until recently, the agents were unable to survive transit through the pulmonary circulation following intravenous injection, and the technique was therefore restricted to investigations of the right side of the heart. Levovist is an echo enhancing agent capable of left heart--and even systemic--enhancement to improve the images obtained with B-mode and Doppler echocardiography. This agent offers important practical advantages in "routine" echocardiography, particularly in patients in whom image quality is suboptimal or baseline examination fails due to physical limitations. Potential future uses of contrast-enhanced echocardiography include quantitative analysis of coronary artery flow.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham 35233, USA.
authors.forename: N C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Nanda
mesh_terms: D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016276:Ventricular Function
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D011134:Polysaccharides; C059891:SHU 508