title: Contrast echocardiography: new agents.
abstract: In this report, we review the history, rationale, current status and future directions of contrast agents in echocardiography. First, we discuss the historic development of contrast agents through a review of important physical principles of microbubbles in ultrasonography. Second, we identify attributes of an ideal contrast agent and review those that are currently available or in the "pipeline" for clinical use. Third, we review indications for contrast echocardiography, including endocardial border detection, perfusion quantification and reperfusion assessment, and validate these observations by comparisons with other imaging modalities. Then, we briefly review different methodologies of performing a contrast study, including interrupted, real-time and a hybrid modality. Finally, we identify novel future applications of the newest contrast agents. These newer concepts in contrast echocardiography should form a foundation for nearly limitless application of echocardiography in improved anatomical assessment, perfusion imaging and even special applications, such as detection of vascular inflammation and site-specific drug delivery.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Navin C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Nanda
mesh_terms: D003287:Contrast Media; D003326:Coronary Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D045423:Microbubbles; D010477:Perfusion; D055585:Physical Phenomena; D010825:Physics; D014465:Ultrasonics
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media