Superiority of the combination of blood and agitated saline for routine contrast enhancement

S. Fan, T. Nagai, H. Luo, S. Atar, T. Naqvi, Y. Birnbaum, S. Lee, R. J. Siegel

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

44 Scopus citations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the modification of the saline echo contrast method by mixing blood with agitated saline before intravenous injection. In 20 patients, contrast echocardiography was performed with a conventional technique from the apical 4-chamber view. We used 2 techniques: (1) the combination of blood (1 mL) withdrawn from the patients and air- agitated saline agitated, (2) air-agitated. In all patients, the blood combination technique was judged to make a greater contrast, with the agreement of all 3 reviewers. Peak echo intensity of the right ventricular cavity by the blood combination technique was significantly higher than that by agitated saline alone. In conclusion, the use of the combination of blood and agitated saline is superior to agitated saline alone for the opacification of the right atrium and ventricle in routine echocardiography.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)94-98
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of the American Society of Echocardiography
Volume12
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1999

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
  • Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine

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