What is Micro bubble contrast ultrasound

I have lead on developing this service in one of the biggest acute trusts in London and the UK and I have trained and mentored Sonographers and Doctors creating a team who can independently & safely use this modality to help improve patient care.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is a new technique that makes use of microbubble-based contrast agents to improve the visualization and assessment of large vessels and tissue vascularity. The combination of ultrasound contrast agents with the latest evolving equipment has the potential to transform the whole clinical role of ultrasound to provide a flexible low-cost diagnostic imaging capability equivalent or superior to many existing modalities such as CT & MRI.

LOGIQ

Advantages of Micro bubble contrast ultrasoundUltrasound contrast agents offer high sensitivity (the ability to ‘see’ a single bubble) with a safety profile that is at least as good as conventional contrast agents. CEUS offers several advantages over the alternative imaging modalities. It can be performed immediately after baseline ultrasound, the first-line imaging modality in many clinical settings, and it can be carried out in a variety of scenarios (echo labs, bedside, operating room, CT suite, etc.). It does not involve exposure to ionizing radiations, and it allows prolonged real time examinations where also rapid changes can be captured, or the study repeated if needed.

 

Therefore the main advantages are

  • realtime imagingAllowing continuous imaging of contrast enhancement profiles over 6-8 min with extremely high temporal resolution (about 15 to 60 images per second)
  • bedside availabilityAllowing examinations at almost every location incl. intensive care units, surgical rooms, ambulatory units, …
  • fast contrast eliminationAllowing follow-up examinations in short intervals (also in patients with renal impairment)
  • lack of ionising radiationAllowing repeated examinations over a long period of time (e.g. for chronic diseases)
  • proven safetyUltrasound contrast agents are generally safe and have the lowest incidence of acute adverse reactions compared to other contrast agents
  • favourable costs for liver imaging

Microbubble in clinical practice

The use of microbubble contrast ultrasound in evaluation liver lesion rather than using conventional ultrasound has help reaching definite diagnosis without the use of ionising radiation, CT or MRI.
This is achieved by the ability of microbubbles in examining small blood vessels which is important in chrachterising liver lesions the inflow and outflow pattern ‘behaviour’ help better differentiation of liver lesions.
It is also useful in differentiating solid from cystic renal lesions and can be used safely in patients with renal and liver failure.