Use of contrast agents in ultrasound

By using Albunex, a recently developed ultrasound contrast agent, a clear Doppler ultrasound signal, and a B-mode image of the flow stream has been obtained. For the Doppler signal, a Hokanson Doppler unit with 5 MHz transducer was used, and for the image of the flow stream, a GE imager with 7.5 Mhz transducer was used. In this experiment, a straight 1:1000 dilution for Albunex (Molecular Biosystems Inc., San Diego, CA) was prepared. For the flow stream, a 1 mm groove in a plexiglass phantom was prepared. The Doppler signal, and the image obtained show a clear distinction between contrast agents and water. Therefore, by using an ultrasound contrast agent, flow and flow direction can be visualized using a conventional B-mode imager.<>