Abstract

Bedside echocardiography in emergency room (ER) or in intensive care unit (ICU) is an important tool for managing critically ill patients, to obtain a timely accurate diagnosis and to immediately stratify the risk to the patients life. It may also render invasive monitoring unnecessary. In these patients, contrast echocardiography may improve quality of imaging and also may provide additional information, especially regarding myocardial perfusion in those with suspected coronary artery disease. This article focuses on the principle of contrast echocardiography and the clinical information that can be obtained according to the most frequent presentations in ER and ICU.

Keywords: Contrast echocardiography, microbubbles, critically ill, intensive care, emergency room, contrast agent, ultrasound, MBB, BMS, intravascular rheology