Imaging Techniques for Myocardial Contrast Echocardiography

Myocardial contrast echocardiography.

MCE has evolved from a laboratory tool to a clinical procedure. It would be wrong to consider it merely another tool for imaging of myocardial perfusion. As discussed, it allows physicians to bring physiology and pathophysiology to the bedside, providing a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of abnormal findings in individual patients. MCE can provide quantitative measurements tha...

3D Myocardial Contrast Echocardiography

Myocardial perfusion imaging: contrast echocardiography today and tomorrow.

The clinical need to evaluate myocardial perfusion is not satisfied by conventional imaging techniques (I). Angiography is frequently used to provide qualitative anatomic data, but it lacks a physiologic basis for assessing regional blood flow and is an unreliable predictor of it (2,3). Recent technical advances in contrast echocardiography permit direct perfusion assessment and promise to prov...

Contrast echocardiography in myocardial infarction

The contrast agents used in ultrasound are approved for several clinical situations. New echocardiographic techniques, such as harmonic imaging and power pulse inversion imaging, can improve the visualization of microbubbles. In this article we discuss the early development of contrast echocardiography, new technologies that help improve image acquisition and its practical role in the assessmen...

New contrast agents and technologies for myocardial contrast echocardiography.

Myocardial contrast echocardiography is a new method for evaluating myocardial perfusion. However, it relies on the marriage of two evolving technologies; ultrasound contrast agents and ultrasound imaging instrumentation. To date, these technologies have only been available to a limited number of researchers throughout the world. Within the next 12 months, both agents and specialised ultrasound...