Echo enhancers and ultrasound imaging

The quality of diagnostic ultrasound images is sometimes limited by excessive acoustic attenuation within the organs and tissues. Ultrasound echo-enhancers help to overcome that limitation by increasing the intensity of the reflected signal. Acoustic principles dictate that the most effective enhancers are gas-filled microbubbles. The problem of producing a microbubble suspension stable enough for routine clinical use has been overcome in several ways. Newer developments are leading to enhancers with an active acoustic response and that have affinities for specific organs and tissues. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.