Clinical applications of ultrasound contrast agents

摘要

Within the last decade safe and practical ultrasound contrast agents have been introduced. Most of these are based on gas-filled micro-bubbles which markedly enhance Doppler signals and in some cases also gray-scale images. The clinicalimprovements expected from ultrasound contrast is reviewed. Tissue-specific contrast agents constitute another area of potential clinical significance. One particular agent is taken up by the reticulo-endothelial system and produces so-called acousticemission signals when imaged. An introduction to the unique clinical applications of acoustic emission is given. Harmonic imaging is a new contrast-specific imaging modality which utilizes the nonlinear properties of some agents in an attempt to alleviate current limitations of ultrasound contrast studies. Examples of harmonic images are presented.