DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING PATHWAYS: ULTRASOUND CONTRAST AGENTS
Abstract
Author(s): Pankaj Yadav, Ashok Yadav, Prathibha Yadav, Shaily Chaudhary.
Ultrasonography lacked substances to be administered to patients to improve or increase the diagnostic yield, which is peculiar considering that contrast agents have long been used with all the other imaging techniques. Fortunately some contrast agents, most of them consisting in gas microbubbles, have been recently introduced for ultrasound imaging too: this review will focus on their history, behavior, current applications and future developments. No definitive conclusions can be drawn yet on the actual merits of each contrast agent, but all of them seem to be both effective and safe, meaning that their future success will depend on the relative cost-effectiveness and peculiarities.
