Ultrasound Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Ultrasound, including details on screening, diagnosis, pregnancy, detection.

Myocardial contrast echocardiography evolving as a clinically feasible technique for accurate, rapid, and safe assessment of myocardial perfusion: the evidence so far.

Dijkmans PA, Senior R, Becher H, Porter TR, Wei K, Visser CA, Kamp O

Department of Cardiology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. pa.dijkmans@vumc.nl

Intravenous myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) is a recently developed technique for assessment of myocardial perfusion. Up to now, many studies have demonstrated that the sensitivity and specificity of qualitative assessment of myocardial perfusion by MCE in patients with acute and chronic ischemic heart disease are comparable with other techniques such as cardiac scintigraphy and dobutamine stress echocardiography. Furthermore, quantitative parameters of myocardial perfusion derived from MCE correlate well with the current clinical standard for this purpose, positron emission tomography. Myocardial contrast echocardiography provides a promising and valuable tool for assessment of myocardial perfusion. Although MCE has been primarily performed for medical research, its implementation in routine clinical care is evolving. This article is intended to give an overview of the current status of MCE.

Published 12 December 2006 in J Am Coll Cardiol, 48(11): 2168-77.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Ultrasound Research Today. All Rights Reserved.