From the April 2011 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


There’s often skepticism from both staff and patients to deal with as well. “We’ve worked with patients who have been previously imaged in the past in other facilities who were very pleasantly surprised that we don’t need contrast —some asked to call their doctor to make sure the doctor was aware of non-contrast,” Erickson says.

Do-overs and details
Erickson points out an additional benefit with running a non-contrast imaging procedure that’s a benefit to both patient and provider. “In normal contrast-enhanced imaging, getting the bolus a must. In non-contrast imaging, you don’t run the risk of missing the bolus when it reaches the area to be imaged —you can reshoot over and over with no loss.”
But how does the technology work?

“Multi-phase imaging is used to visualize the blood flow as it courses through the renal arteries,” according to Clarkson. “So, a static one-time picture has evolved into flow dynamics. We have the ability to suppress signal from stationary tissue and make flowing blood bright. If we repeat this same scan with increasing delay times between the arterial tagging and imaging pulses, we can visualize the blood flow deeper into the imaging volume. The resulting images are then viewed as a movie loop which results in the multi-phase angiographic images —all done with no radiation and without an injection of Gadolinium."

The wishlist
With the technological foundation created six decades ago, contrast injectors and agents have had time to grow and mature. Better understanding of the imaging process and even of the interaction between contrast materials and the circulatory system on a cellular level is leading some to propose that the best is yet to come.

With the emergence of 3-D ultrasound, contrast agents are finding a new market and research is offering promise in other areas as well. “We have a new compound, Flurpiridaz, that’s a PET agent for myocardial imaging. We’re beginning our Phase III trials for registration. The Phase II data were very exciting and we will have presentation of the information at the ICNC [the European College of Cardiology] conference,” says Lantheus’ Hibberd. “It looks like a major advance in the ability to accurately detect heart disease.”

Lantheus has another PET agent that recently completed Phase I clinical trials. The company said it could help with the diagnosis of patients with heart failure by imaging the tissue structure.

On the equipment side, Toshiba has a few more irons in the fire as well. “We’re looking at ways to see the blood going further into the vascular tree. In this way, if someone has cancer, a liver lesion for example and medicine is being prescribed, we’ll be able to see how effective the treatment is and if it’s not effective, a different course of action can be taken. Obviously non-contrast imaging would be a great benefit to a patient with a liver lesion,” says Clarkson.

April 2011 Magazine

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