As safety standards for radiation are increasingly being tightened, manufacturers of ultrasound technologies are improving the versatility of their systems. A new analysis from Frost & Sullivan foresees stable growth in the contrast enhanced and therapeutic segments of the ultrasound market.

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Non-Invasive Cardiac Imaging Technologies For the Diagnosis of Coronary Artery Disease

As part of an effort to provide evidence of the effectiveness and cost efficiency of 5 non-invasive cardiac imaging technologies, the Ontario Medical Advisory Secretariat (MAS) began a review in mid 2009 of literature surrounding the various cardiac imaging modalities for patients thought to be suffering from Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

Upon completion of the preliminary draft of the report, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care was provided with recommendations regarding the use of these 5 technologies. Specific to the use of the use of contrast agents in echocardiography, the recommendations indicated that:

In terms of value for money, for stable patients, stress ECHO with contrast if necessary and/or CT angiography appear to be cost-effective for the diagnosis of CAD. The cost-effectiveness analysis assumes that the contrast agent is administered at the same time as the initial stress echocardiogram if the images are considered suboptimal and not at a subsequent visit. Any
changes to this practice would affect the cost-effectiveness analysis.

In terms of value for money, for low/intermediate risk patients presenting with chest pain syndrome (negative cardiac enzymes), results indicate that only stress ECHO with contrast if necessary was cost-effective irrespective of WTP and prevalence of CAD.

The Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee also made recommendations, and advised the Ministry that the addition of contrast to stress ECHO as required should be included as a key strategy in future planning for cardiac diagnostic imaging pending Health Canada approval. This recommendation assumes that the contrast agent is administered at the same time as the initial stress echocardiogram if the images are considered suboptimal and not at a subsequent visit.

All recommendations were posted for public comment, and ICUS will be closely following the announcement of the final version of the report.

More information on this review can be found here