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Clinical utility of the transpulmonary echo enhancing agent Levovist to improve diagnostic confidence in echocardiography
Author(s) -
Nanda Navin C.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of clinical ultrasound
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.272
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1097-0096
pISSN - 0091-2751
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0096(199710)25:8<411::aid-jcu1>3.0.co;2-m
Subject(s) - medicine , echo (communications protocol) , radiology , cardiology , computer network , computer science
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. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound 25 : 411–419, 1997.