太田 剛弘, 別府 慎太郎, 中谷 敏, 宮武 邦夫

Takahiro OTA, Shintaro BEPPU, Satoshi NAKATANI, Kunio MIYATAKE

国立循環器病センター研究所, 循環動態機能部

National Cardiovascular Center, Research Institute, Department of Cardiovascular Dynamics

キーワード : Contrast, Echocardiography, Microbubble, Myocardial perfusion

[Background] The size and number of microbubbles within a contrast solution are not the same, but depend upon the agents and method of agitation. This non-uniformity of microbubbles may influence the myocardial staining in contrast echocardiography. [Purpose] The purpose is to elucidate the influence of agents and methods of agitation on the contrast solutions in the quantitative assessment of myocardial perfusion using myocardial contrast echocardiography. [Method] In six open chest dogs, various types of contrast solutions were injected into the left main coronary artery during two-dimensional echocardiography. The contrast agents were Albumin, Iopamidol, Urografin and Haemacel, and agitation methods were sonication and manual. [Results] The quantitative indices, such as peak pixel intensity (Ip), time to peak intensity (Tp) and wash out half decay time (T1/2) varied significantly. Ip was not reproducible even for the same agent made by the same method. T1/2 and Tp were correlated with the size of the microbubbles. The quantitative indices were not the same even among the different regions of the left ventricular wall. However, the ratio of T1/2 in different regions remained almost the same even when different injections were given or different agents were used. [Conclusion] The quantitative indices are not adequate in themselves to evaluate myocardial perfusion. However, the ratio of indices between regions may be valid.