MedPage Today is reporting that a study just presented at the Scientific Sessions of the American Society of Echocardiography in San Diego has shown that using microbubble contrast agents in conjunction with ultrasound may do wonders for clearing obstructed arteries.
From MedPage Today:
Ex vivo experiments showed 55% reduction in the weight of 1-day-old venous thrombi with sonothrombolysis compared with a 31% reduction using ultrasound alone (P=0.008), found Shelby Kutty, MD, of the University of Nebraska in Omaha, and colleagues.
In pigs, microbubble contrast agents stirred by ultrasound to abrade away thrombi more than tripled flow through blocked catheters compared with ultrasound and saline control (roughly 14 versus 4 drops per minute at 45 minutes), they reported here at the American Society of Echocardiography meeting.
These feasibility results show promise for treatment of central venous catheter thromboembolism in children for whom standard thrombolytic agents would be expected to cause major hemorrhage in 20% to 40%, Kutty said.
Read on at MedPage Today: Echo Plus Microbubbles Plumbs Blocked Central Lines…
Flashbacks: SonoLysis™ Therapy: Stroke Treatment with Ultrasound…; Embolotherapy with Smart Bubbles…; Multifunctional Nanoparticles for Ultrasound Imaging and Targeted Anticancer Therapy…
Image credit: ntr23