Abstract
The management of cardiovascular conditions will likely be improved by noninvasive in vivo molecular imaging technologies that can provide earlier or more accurate diagnosis. These techniques are already having a positive impact in preclinical research by providing insight into disease pathobiology or efficacy of new therapies. Contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEU) molecular imaging is a technique that relies on the ultrasound detection of targeted microbubble contrast agents to examine molecular or cellular events that occur at the blood pool-endothelial interface. For the most part, targeted contrast agents are composed of encapsulated gas microbubbles (MBs) that are 2-4μm in diameter, or other acoustically active micro- or nanoparticles. These agents bear several tens of thousands of binding molecules per particle. Because nonadhered agent is cleared rapidly, CEU molecular imaging can be performed in a matter of minutes. MBs are detected using contrast-specific techniques that generate and receive nonlinear signals produced by MB cavitation, thereby increasing signal-to-noise ratio. Dedicated kinetic models for molecular imaging have been generated that permit the elimination of signal from nonadherent agent.
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