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3 years ago
Several advances in the field of echocardiography have led to improvements in the accuracy of stress echocardiography (SE) and further strengthened its established diagnostic and prognostic role in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). 1,2 In addition to its role in CAD, SE can be used to assess the severity of valvular heart disease and for detection of occult pulmonary…
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3 years ago
Coronary artery disease (CAD) represents the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in western countries. Many non-invasive stress tests are currently available for detecting CAD and assessing prognosis. Non-invasive stress techniques comprise exercise electrocardiographic (ECG) stress testing and imaging techniques, namely exercise/pharmacological stress echocardiography (SEcho) and exercise…
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3 years ago
Stress echocardiography is a widely used clinical technique that provides invaluable information in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). Common applications of stress echo include the diagnosis of reversible ischaemia, myocardial viability, and establishing the functional significance of known coronary lesions. Stress echo has been shown to have similar sensitivity and…
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3 years ago
How Far Have We Come?
Cardiac imaging using ultrasound (so-called ‘echocardiography’) was introduced more than 50 years ago. Resting echocardiographic detection of myocardial infarction was described as the reduction in regional contractile function,1 and the development of stress echocardiography in the early era was recognised after the introduction of 2D echocardiographic imaging. The initial…
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3 years ago
Ultrasound contrast agents capable of transpulmonary passage following intravenous injection have been commercially available since the 1990s. These agents are microbubbles, which are smaller than red blood cells and persist long enough (due to reduced rate of gas diffusion) to reach the left ventricle (LV).1–3 Ultrasound contrast agent applications included LV cavity opacification, enhancement…
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3 years ago
Abstract
The assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction is a key clinical investigation guiding the diagnosis, management and prognosis of cardiology patients. Echocardiography is an inexpensive, safe, and portable method commonly used to provide this information. Improvement in the quality of assessment provided by echocardiography continues to be the subject of current clinical programs…
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3 years ago
In this era of cost control and limited resources available to meet the growing demand for cardiovascular imaging testing, quality control initiatives that reduce the need for alternative testing are highly relevant. The implementation of continuous quality improvement (CQI) through the analysis of variations in clinical or test performance at an organizational or individual level is termed …
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3 years ago
Contemporary approved echo contrast agents share a common approved indication of left ventricular opacification and enhancement of endocardial border delineation for the assessment of left ventricular function in patients with technically suboptimal echocardiograms (ECGs). The use of echo contrast agents with advanced imaging technologies has resulted in the conversion of many non-diagnostic ECGs…
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3 years ago
DEFINITY® (Perflutren Lipid Microsphere Injectable Suspension, Lantheus Medical Imaging, North Billerica, MA) received approval for clinical use by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2001 for “opacification of the left ventricular cavity and enhancement of left ventricular border delineation in patients with technically difficult echocardiograms.”1 By 2007, it was estimated that two…
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3 years ago
Contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging (CEUS) is a non-invasive imaging modality that utilizes air-filled microspheres as blood pool agents, which act as intravascular indicators, resulting in improved accuracy and reliability in performing ultrasound images of the heart. CEUS is increasingly used throughout the US, South America, Australia, the Middle East, Europe, Japan, Canada, and Asia as a…
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