Safety Profile of Ultrasound Enhancing Agents in Echocardiography Across Yale New Haven Health System
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Circulation
Abstract
Background: Ultrasound Enhancing Agents (UEAs) are increasingly used in echocardiography for delineation of endocardial border and detection of left ventricular (LV) thrombus with reported rate of serious adverse reactions from 0 to 0.029%. Contemporary utilization and safety data of UEA in echocardiography are scarce. Aims: We aimed to obtain contemporary data on comparative safety of UEA Lumason and Definity in inpatient and outpatient settings across large academic healthcare system. Methods: A retrospective database analysis of all echocardiograms performed within Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS) between January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2022 was done. Echocardiography reporting software captured type of UEA as well as any observed adverse reaction. All reported adverse events were manually chart reviewed through electronic medical record for confirmation and grading severity. American College of Radiology (ACR) criteria for contrast agent reaction were used for grading to mild, moderate, or severe reaction. Adverse reactions differences were analyzed with Pearson’s chi-square and predictors were identified by Logistic regression. Results: Out of 305,749 echocardiograms 91,215 (29.83%) required UEAs. In total, 430 (0.47%) adverse events were reported. Lumason (49216, 54.42%) and Definity (41077, 45.42%) were mainly used agents with 158 (0.32%) and 270 (0.66%) reactions recorded, respectively (p<0.001). There were more mild reactions with Definity (245, 0.6%) Vs Lumason (124, 0.25%) (p <0.001), and more severe reaction with Lumason (13, 0.026%) Vs Definity (3, 0.007%) (p=0.0322). Females had higher chance of having any form of contrast reaction (OR 1.707; 95% CI: 1.412-2.065). Older age (OR 0.984 per 1 year; p <0.0001) and higher heart rate (OR 0.993 per 1 bpm; P = 0.050) were associated with a decreased chance of reaction. Ejection fraction and body mass index were not associated with adverse events. Conclusion: UEAs are frequently used in routine echocardiography studies. Adverse reactions to UEA were rare and mostly mild. Severe reactions were more frequent with Lumason than Definity. Female sex, younger age and lower heart rate were associated with increased incidence of adverse reactions.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1161/circ.148.suppl_1.1592
Publication Date
11-6-2003
Recommended Citation
Alam, Md Mashiul; Jeyashanmugaraja, Gini P.; McNamara, Robert L. MD; and Shkolnik, Evgeny, "Safety Profile of Ultrasound Enhancing Agents in Echocardiography Across Yale New Haven Health System" (2003). Cardiology. 96.
https://scholar.bridgeporthospital.org/cardiology/96