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Biomedical subjects

S B Feinstein

Publications and source records attributed to S B Feinstein.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Contrast echocardiography: effects of microbubbles on coronary blood flow and left ventricular hemodynamics.

Contrast echocardiography is currently being used to define and quantitate myocardial perfusion at the time of cardiac catheterization. Limited and conflicting data exist regarding the physiologic effects of microbubble-containing contrast agents. In the present study, coronary blood flow measured using an electromagnetic flow meter, blood pressure, and heart rate responses were studied in six dogs. An ECG-gated power injector was used to deliver 7 to 9 ml of sonicated and nonsonicated solutions (saline, Renografin-76, dextrose 50% and 70%, and sorbitol 70%) through an intra-aortic catheter placed above the aortic cusps. Paired injections of sonicated and nonsonicated agents were compared to determine whether the presence of microbubbles affected the physiologic response to these agents. Simultaneous recordings of two-dimensional cross-sectional images of the left ventricle were obtained. Data are expressed as percentage of change from preinjection control values. Within 10 seconds of an injection, decreases in coronary blood flow occurred in a range from -1 to -10% compared with preinjection control values. Coronary blood flow increased between 10 and 25 seconds postinjection within a range from +11 to +29%. Systemic blood pressures rose during injections and then declined below control values within 10 seconds. The magnitude of the decline in systolic blood pressure ranged from -5. to -18%. Diastolic blood pressure declined in a range from -13 to -33%. Within 20-30 seconds postinjection, systemic blood pressure rose above control values. The magnitude of the systolic and diastolic blood pressure rise ranged from +4 to +11%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Right heart dysfunction, pulmonary embolism, and paradoxical embolization during liver transplantation. A transesophageal two-dimensional echocardiographic study.

In 16 adult patients, we performed continuous intraoperative two-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (2DTEE) to help elucidate the mechanism of myocardial dysfunction that accompanies liver transplantation. In 4 of the 16 patients "paradoxical" motion of the interventricular septum consistent with right ventricular failure was seen. An additional three of the 16 patients showed right atrial enlargement and right-to-left deviation of the interatrial septum. Two patients showed evidence of paradoxical embolization (one of whom had right ventricular and right atrial enlargement), and a third patient (who had right atrial enlargement) embolized a large right atrial thrombus into the pulmonary circulation. Two-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography demonstrated that isolated right ventricular failure might account for some of the hemodynamic instability seen during liver transplantation. Venous, pulmonary, and paradoxical embolization of air and thrombi documented by transesophageal echocardiography likely contribute to right heart failure.

Adolescent↗

Quantitation of renal blood flow by contrast ultrasonography: preliminary results.

Contrast ultrasonography, employing tracers behaving like red blood cells, is a promising technique to study regional blood flow distribution. Aim of this note is to quantitate renal blood flow in the dog using contrast ultrasonography. Mathematical formulae derived from the classical dye-dilution theory are applied. Ten different renal blood flow levels (ranging from 16 to 125 ml/min) were obtained by means of mechanical (stenosis and reperfusion) and pharmacological interventions (iv infusion of adrenaline, noradrenaline and fenoldopam). Renal blood flow was measured by electromagnetic flow-meter and contemporary calculated by contrast ultrasonography. The correlation coefficient between measured and calculated flow was 0.92 (p less than 0.01). Contrast ultrasonography is a technique capable of measuring renal blood flow at a wide range of different flow levels.

Albumins↗

Myocardial risk area and peak gray level measurement by contrast echocardiography: effect of microbubble size and concentration, injection rate, and coronary vasodilation.

Contrast agents were injected via the intracoronary route in eight dogs during two-dimensional echocardiographic imaging to determine the influence of microbubble size and concentration, injection rate, and coronary vasodilation on risk area and peak gray level measurement. At an injection rate at 13 cc/sec, the average background-subtracted peak gray level intensity of hand-agitated diatrizoate meglumine/diatrizoate sodium was significantly (p less than 0.01) higher than that of hand-agitated diatrizoate meglumine/diatrizoate sodium + 0.9% saline, sonicated diatrizoate meglumine/diatrizoate sodium, and sonicated 70% sorbitol. These differences were abolished by the use of 38 cc/sec injection rates and intracoronary injection of adenosine. Perfusion area determinations as assessed by planimetry were unaffected by the contrast agent used, the injection rate, or by intracoronary administration of adenosine. We conclude that risk area measurement by the ultrasound contrast technique is not affected by varying contrast agents, injection rates, or vasodilation. However, peak gray level intensity is variable among contrast agents and may result in variability of time-activity curve analysis.

Animals↗

Contrast echocardiography during coronary arteriography in humans: perfusion and anatomic studies.

In humans, the physiologic relation between myocardial blood flow and epicardial coronary artery anatomy remains poorly defined. With the recent development of sonicated microbubble contrast agents, it is now possible to use contrast echocardiography to assess myocardial perfusion and to correlate blood flow with angiographically identified coronary artery anatomy. The purpose of the current study was to determine myocardial perfusion patterns in patients without significant coronary artery disease. The results may be used as a reference to analyze myocardial blood flow in patients with coronary artery disease. Sonicated meglumine sodium diatrizoate solution (Renografin-76), which contains microbubbles measuring 4.5 +/- 2.8 micrograms in diameter by laser analysis, was used as the echocardiographic contrast agent during elective coronary arterriography in 14 patients without significant coronary artery disease. Patients received intracoronary injections of 1.5 to 2 ml of sonicated Renografin-76 without complications. Perfusion characteristics were studied by visual assessment of the two-dimensional echocardiographic images obtained after individual injections. In patients found to be free of significant coronary artery disease by arteriography, the left coronary system always supplied the anteroseptal, anterior, anterolateral and posterior regions of the left ventricle at the mid-papillary, cross-sectional level. The right coronary artery system perfused the inferior and inferoseptal regions in 89% of the patients identified with a right dominant system. The anterolateral papillary muscle was perfused from the left coronary system in all cases. The posteromedial papillary muscle was perfused from the left coronary system in 58% of the patients and from the right system in 42% of the patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Angiography↗

Effect of intracoronary injections of sonicated microbubbles on left ventricular contractility.

Despite the recent interest in contrast-enhanced echocardiography as a means of defining myocardial perfusion, the effects of echo contrast agents on left ventricular (LV) contractility in humans remains poorly defined. This is particularly relevant because intracoronary injection of contrast agents used for angiographic visualization of coronary arteries produces significant alterations in LV hemodynamics. The relation of LV end-systolic wall stress (sigma es) to rate-corrected velocity of fiber shortening (Vcfc), a load-independent index of contractility, was studied in 7 patients undergoing elective coronary arteriography. Two-dimensional and targeted M-mode echocardiographic and central aortic pressure tracings were recorded during injections of standard volumes of angiographic (7 to 9 ml of nonsonicated Renografin-76) and echocardiographic (1.5 to 2.0 ml of sonicated Renografin-76) contrast agents into the left main coronary artery. The order in which agents were injected was randomly determined. Myocardial contractility was assessed under control conditions and 5 and 15 seconds after injection. Alterations in contractility relative to control were measured as the change in Vcfc after elimination of afterload (sigma es) as a confounding variable. An injection of Renografin-76 adequate for angiographic imaging of coronary artery anatomy resulted in a significant depression of LV contractility (p less than 0.001) in conjunction with a tendency toward increased afterload (p = 0.12); recovery occurred by 15 seconds after injection. The smaller amounts of sonicated Renografin-76 required to give adequate contrast enhancement of the myocardium did not alter LV contractile state or afterload.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

Successful left ventricular opacification following peripheral venous injection of sonicated contrast agent: an experimental evaluation.

A new agent for use in contrast echocardiography that is capable of passing through the pulmonary circulation and opacifying the left ventricular cavity after intravenous injection was evaluated in a canine model. Air-filled albumin microbubbles were produced by sonication. A Coulter counter was used to size and count the resultant microbubbles in vitro. The microbubbles had diameters sufficiently small (less than 9 micron) to permit transpulmonary passage. A total of 72 injections were made into the forepaw vein of five closed-chest dogs. Simultaneous two-dimensional echocardiographic images of the right ventricle and the left ventricle were recorded and digitized on an off-line computer. Of the 72 injections, 59 (82%) were suitable for digitization. Forty of the 59 digitized injections (68%) demonstrated left ventricular contrast enhancement. Indicator-dilution curves were generated from plots of intraventricular gray level VS time, and the curve widths and areas under the curves were determined. The ratio of total indicator curve area for left to right ventricular cavity was 0.39 for the 40 successful injections, indicating transpulmonary transmission of 39% of the contrast effect. Injection of bubbles with mean size less than 6 microns resulted in a larger median left ventricular curve area than those with bubbles averaging from 6 to 9 microns. Injections demonstrating successful left ventricular contrast opacification had larger right ventricular curve areas than those that were not successful. Blood pressure, heart rate, and arterial blood gases were not significantly altered by repeated intravascular contrast injections. Postmortem examination of hearts, lungs, livers, and kidneys revealed no histologic changes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Echocardiographic contrast agents: effect of microbubbles and carrier solutions on left ventricular contractility.

Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in the use of contrast-enhanced echocardiography as a means of noninvasively assessing myocardial perfusion. However, if injections of echocardiographic contrast agents are to be used for this purpose it is essential that they are not intrinsically toxic to the heart. In this study, the left ventricular end-systolic wall stress-rate-corrected velocity of fiber shortening relation, a load independent index of contractility, was studied in nine dogs. Two-dimensional and targeted M-mode echocardiographic as well as central aortic pressure tracings were made during echocardiographically gated, pressure- and volume-controlled aortic root injections of nonsonicated and sonicated Renografin-76, saline and dextrose 70% (n = 6), and sonicated and hand-agitated Renografin-76/saline mixture (n = 5). Two of nine dogs received all agents. Off-line computer videodensitometric analysis documented myocardial perfusion. In all cases, data were obtained at control and 5 and 15 seconds after injection. Additional data were collected at 25 seconds after injection for the Renografin-76/saline mixture. Alterations in contractility were measured relative to control as changes in rate-corrected velocity of fiber shortening after afterload (measured as end-systolic wall stress) was eliminated as a confounding variable. Under no condition did saline or Renografin-76 cause alterations in left ventricular contractility. Nonsonicated and sonicated dextrose 70% increased left ventricular contractility at 15 seconds but not at 5 seconds after injection. Hand-agitated Renografin-76/saline mixture induced a negative inotropic effect at 5 and 15 seconds after injection.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Contrast ultrasonography of the kidney: a new method for evaluation of renal perfusion in vivo.

Assessment of the effects of pharmacologic agents on renal blood flow (RBF) is clinically important in many disease states, including hypertension and congestive heart failure. However, because of the complexities of RBF, quantitation in vivo has been technically difficult. This study demonstrates the utility of ultrasound imaging of the kidney combined with injection of a sonicated radiocontrast solution (Renografin-76) for the assessment of regional renal blood flow. The technique uses a suspension of uniform microbubbles (diameter 4.4 +/- 2.8 micron), which when injected directly into the descending aorta are distinctly visualized by renal ultrasound. Five dogs were studied. Catheters were placed in the descending aorta for injection of sonicated Renografin and in the renal artery for drug infusions. Data were collected before and during intrarenal artery infusions of bradykinin and norepinephrine. Total RBF was measured by electromagnetic flowmeter. Video density time curves were generated for comparable segments of the outer renal cortex and fit to a monoexponential decay curve. This allowed calculation of the mean exponential decay index (t1/2). An increase in t1/2 paralleled decreased renal perfusion (i.e., longer washout of contrast material). The opposite was true for a decrease in t1/2. Bradykinin increased RBF from 134 +/- 26 to 249 +/- 19 ml/min (p less than .01 vs control), and norepinephrine decreased RBF from 130 +/- 25 to 51 +/- 17 ml/min (p less than .01 vs control).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Transesophageal echocardiographic monitoring of myocardial ischemia during vascular surgery.

Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) was used to detect segmental ventricular wall motion abnormalities (SWMAs) associated with ischemia in 49 high-risk patients who had 50 major vascular procedures, including 23 infrarenal aortic, five suprarenal aortic, 14 carotid, seven distal, and one axillofemoral reconstructions. A modified gastroscope tipped with an echocardiographic transducer was inserted into the esophagus and positioned behind the heart to obtain a reproducible cross-sectional view of the left ventricle at the level of the papillary muscles. Twelve patients (24%) had SWMA at baseline, probably representing areas of old infarction. Fourteen patients (28%) had new intraoperative SWMAs. Ten of 14 patients were successfully treated and wall motion was normalized. One of the four patients with persistent SWMA suffered a nonfatal subendocardial infarct; another patient suffered intraoperative cardiac arrest and died. No infarcts were documented in the 10 patients successfully treated. The mortality rate in the entire high-risk group was 6%. Alterations in ventricular wall motion were noted in almost 50% of high-risk patients undergoing major vascular surgery. Seventy-one percent of acute SWMAs were reversed without any evidence of myocardial infarction. TEE allowed early recognition of evolving myocardial ischemia and facilitated immediate and specific fluid and pharamcologic interventions. Continued application of this technique may reduce the incidence and morbidity of perioperative cardiac complications.

Coronary Disease↗

Contrast echocardiography for evaluation of myocardial perfusion: effects of coronary angioplasty.

Assessment of viable myocardium before and after interventional therapy has become a critical issue in modern cardiology. This report describes a new contrast echocardiographic technique using conventional two-dimensional imaging during direct intracoronary injections of small volumes (1.5 to 2.0 cc) of sonicated Renografin-76. Contrast echocardiography was performed before and after coronary angioplasty in seven patients with single vessel coronary artery disease. Before angioplasty a contrast (that is, perfusion) defect was noted in all seven patients. This defect correlated with the anatomic distribution of the epicardial coronary stenosis. After angioplasty the mean gradient across the stenotic lesion decreased from 52 +/- 11 to 13 +/- 14 mm Hg (p less than 0.01) in association with a fall in the mean diameter of the lesion from 84 +/- 8 to 29 +/- 13% (p less than 0.001). Increased myocardial perfusion to the area of "contrast defect" was demonstrated in only five of the seven patients, despite hemodynamically and angiographically successful angioplasty. Thus, contrast echocardiographic techniques performed during interventional therapy and used in conjunction with standard coronary angiographic procedures may provide additional physiologic information regarding regional myocardial perfusion after attempts at revascularization.

Aged↗

Automated production and analysis of echo contrast agents.

To develop and standardize contrast agents for use in contrast echocardiographic imaging, microbubble size, concentration, decay, and ultrasound backscatter must be known. These parameters were assessed with a scanning laser particle counter, a commercial ultrasound unit, and various sonicated intravenous solutions. The scanning laser particle counter proved to be a fast and effective means of evaluating microbubble size, concentration, and stability. In addition, sonication was found to be a reliable and reproducible technique for preparing standardized echo contrast agent solutions containing uniformly small microbubbles. The bubbles generated ranged in size from 1 to 15 micron in diameter. All solutions had mean bubble diameters less than 6 micron. The half life of solutions ranged from 44 +/- 12 seconds for Hypaque 50%, to 253 +/- 73 seconds for Iopamidol. Addition of the surfactant to dextrose 70% prolonged bubble half life from 58 +/- 12 seconds to 1018 +/- 276 seconds. Phased array two-dimensional echocardiography of sonicated microbubble solutions, and subsequent videodensitometric analysis, revealed that bubble concentration was directly proportional to echo-reflective properties, and that the solutions have significant ultrasound reflective properties in vitro at concentrations of less than 1500 bubbles/ml.

Autoanalysis↗

Myocardial contrast echocardiography: examination of intracoronary injections, microbubble diameters, and video-intensity decay.

Contrast echocardiographic assessment of blood flow within the myocardium requires standardization of contrast agents and echo image analysis. Sonicated contrast solutions containing small and relatively stable microbubble ultrasound reflectors were injected into coronary arteries of five dogs, and a newly developed computer assisted densitometric analysis of myocardial echo intensity decay was examined. The sonicated solutions included sorbitol 70%, dextrose 70%, and dextrose 50%, and myocardial contrast echo data were analyzed by applying an exponential decay index (T-1/2) to the digitized time intensity curves obtained with videodensitometric techniques. In 30 intracoronary injections selected for further analysis, sonicated sorbitol 70% demonstrated the most physiologic myocardial transit time with the smallest variability (6.0 +/- 2.0 seconds). Sonicated dextrose 70% and dextrose 50% solutions exhibited significantly prolonged and more variable transit times (11.4 +/- 4.0 seconds and 13.9 +/- 5.0 seconds). The results of this study suggest that appropriate echo contrast solutions with small microbubble diameters are critical to satisfactory echocardiographic assessment of myocardial blood flow, and that objective analysis of contrast two-dimensional echocardiographic images can be achieved with computer-assisted videodensity algorithms featuring standardized echo analysis of the time intensity data.

Animals↗

Quantitation of echo-contrast effects.

With the recent development of sonicated microbubble echocardiographic contrast agents, it is now reasonable to attempt to quantitate actual tissue perfusion. However, this requires an understanding of the quantitative relationship between microbubble concentrations and the reflected ultrasound signal. This paper describes (1) the basic acoustic properties of sonicated microbubbles, and (2) experimental verification of this relationship, showing that the ultrasound signal actually begins to decrease at a critical concentration that may be predicted based upon bubble size. These microbubbles have acoustic properties that are essentially those of a random collection of Rayleighian scatters. Signal strength is governed primarily by the compressibility of gas, as opposed to fluid. In addition, bubble diameter is an important factor in determining signal strength (sixth power dependence). And, because the bubbles are randomly arranged, the reflected signal is not as great as might be expected, when compared to the signal reflected by a single bubble. A simple in vitro test of the acoustic analysis confirmed the critical limit for bubble concentration, the measurement of which led to a prediction for sonicated microbubble size that is within a factor of two of the published values. This acoustic analysis and confirmation, along with ongoing in vivo experimentation, promises to make possible quantitative regional perfusion measurement employing sonicated contrast agents.

Contrast Media↗

Microbubble dynamics visualized in the intact capillary circulation.

The potential for the use of contrast echocardiography to study myocardial perfusion has generated efforts to develop standardized echo contrast agents. The two methods used in this laboratory to generate microbubbles in solutions serving as contrast agents included the widely used hand-agitation method and the newer ultrasonic microcavitation (sonication) method. The latter has been demonstrated to generate smaller and more uniform microbubbles in an in vitro system. The present study was designed to observe, by direct microscopic examination of a cat mesentery preparation, the behavior and fate of the microbubbles in an in vivo system. The in vivo mesentery observations confirm the critical role of microbubble size in its unhindered passage through the capillary vasculature. The smaller and more uniform sonicated microbubbles passed rapidly through the microcirculation along with the red blood cells, whereas the larger microbubbles were observed to coalesce and interrupt the flow of blood and subsequently collapse or shrink.

Animals↗