Contrast Echocardiography: Clinical Utility

This article reviews the advances made by the echocardiography contrast agents from their first appearance in the early 1970s with homemade preparations up to the new generation of transpul-monary contrast agents made of small microbubbles capable of transversing the lung's capillary bed. The great progress in contrast agent development has kept pace with the progress made by echocar-diographic equipment, thus making the study of myocardial perfusion in the clinical settings a near-future reality. This article also discusses the medical need that myocardial contrast echo has the potential to satisfy.