title: Acoustic techniques for assessing the Optison destruction threshold.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to identify the pressure threshold for the destruction of Optison (octafluoropropane contrast agent; Amersham Health, Princeton, NJ) using a laboratory-assembled 3.5-MHz pulsed ultrasound system and a clinical diagnostic ultrasound scanner.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 3.5-MHz focused transducer and a linear array with a center frequency of 6.9 MHz were positioned confocally and at 90 degrees to each other in a tank of deionized water. Suspensions of Optison (5-8x10(4) microbubbles/mL) were insonated with 2-cycle pulses from the 3.5-MHz transducer (peak rarefactional pressure, or Pr, from 0.0, or inactive, to 0.6 MPa) while being interrogated with fundamental B-mode imaging pulses (mechanical index, or MI,=0.04). Scattering received by the 3.5-MHz transducer or the linear array was quantified as mean backscattered intensity or mean digital intensity, respectively, and fit with exponential decay functions (Ae-kt+N, where A+N was the amplitude at time 0; N, background echogenicity; and k, decay constant). By analyzing the decay constants statistically, a pressure threshold for Optison destruction due to acoustically driven diffusion was identified.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The decay constants determined from quantified 3.5-MHz radio frequency data and B-mode images were in good agreement. The peak rarefactional pressure threshold for Optison destruction due to acoustically driven diffusion at 3.5 MHz was 0.15 MPa (MI=0.08). Furthermore, the rate of Optison destruction increased with increasing 3.5-MHz exposure pressure output.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Optison destruction was quantified with a laboratory-assembled 3.5-MHz ultrasound system and a clinical diagnostic ultrasound scanner. The pressure threshold for acoustically driven diffusion was identified, and 3 distinct mechanisms of ultrasound contrast agent destruction were observed with acoustic techniques.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, OH, USA. tmp@bu.edu
authors.forename: Tyrone M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Porter
authors.forename: Denise A B
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Christy K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Holland
mesh_terms: D000418:Albumins; D003287:Contrast Media; D005466:Fluorocarbons; D013997:Time Factors; D014159:Transducers; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D000418:Albumins; D003287:Contrast Media; C099458:FS 069; D005466:Fluorocarbons