SonoVue is a second-generation ultrasound
contrast agent consisting of
phospholipid-stabilized
microbubbles filled with
sulfur hexafluoride, with outstanding stability and resistance to pressure. The efficacy of
SonoVue (0.5, 1, 2, 4 mL) was compared with
Albunex (doses 0.08 and 0.22 mL/kg) in patients with suspected ischemic disease and suboptimal endocardial-border delineation on unenhanced echocardiography at rest. All the doses resulted in significantly greater increases compared with
Albunex in left-ventricular endocardial-border delineation score as well as in the duration of clinically useful contrast effect. The utility of
SonoVue in diagnosing
ischemic heart disease was also evaluated during pharmacologic stress (
arbutamine or
dobutamine).
SonoVue produced significant increases from baseline in endocardial-border delineation score both at rest and during pharmacologic stress. The possibility of detecting myocardial perfusion defects using
SonoVue-enhanced power Doppler and gray-scale harmonic contrast echocardiography associated with continuous and intermittent imaging was assessed in patients with
coronary artery disease. The results obtained were comparable with corresponding
99mTc sestamibi single-photon emission computed tomography images. An effective cardiovascular assessment of a patient should also include the evaluation of carotid vessels, intracranial circulation, and renal arteries.
SonoVue provided significant improvements in the evaluation of the Doppler signal in terms of diagnosis agreement with reference imaging modality especially for intracranial vessels. The safety profile of
SonoVue was evaluated in 1,406 patients. The incidence of adverse events was 10.4%, the great majority of which were of mild intensity and resolved without consequences.