CHICAGO -- Cross-specialty international medical experts filed a Citizen Petition with the FDA today, asking the agency to remove boxed warnings from ultrasound contrast agents, stating that the warnings deter use of a safe, inexpensive and radiation-free diagnostic imaging tool with potential life-saving benefits for patients.

According to the petition filed by the International Contrast Ultrasound Society (ICUS), a significant body of new research shows a favorable cost-benefit ratio for contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) imaging. This research was not available when the boxed warnings were mandated by the FDA, according to the ICUS petition.

Around 700 international experts met in Vienna to discuss the latest advancements in ultrasound, such as a new technique called real time imaging, and of approximately 200 scientific papers. That was back in 1969 when for the first time physicians and scientists from around the world came together in Austria’s capital to share their knowledge of the use of ultrasound waves in medicine. The success of the meeting led to the founding of the World Federation of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, WFUMB, four years later.

New London Family Medical Center has added a new tool that helps enhance the image of the heart.

The hospital’s ultrasound department is using Definity, a contrast agent that improves the image quality of echocardiograms — also known as cardiac ultrasound.

Definity doesn’t contain dye, but rather is made up of tiny micro-bubbles that are biodegradable. When it is injected into a patient’s arm during an ultrasound exam, it passes through the patient’s circulatory system. When the ultrasound probe is placed over the patient’s heart, it reflects ultrasound signals, creating a clearer image of the heart. As the bubbles dissipate, the agent is breathed out of the body a few minutes after it is injected.

CHICAGO -- Dr. Fabio Piscaglia, of Bologna, Italy, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the International Contrast Ultrasound Society (ICUS), the world’s only medical professional society exclusively focused on the use of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) imaging to improve patient care worldwide. ICUS members include radiologists, gastro-enterologists, cardiologists, and other medical imaging professionals and scientists from 58 countries.