Contrast-enhanced endoscopic ultrasonography

Table 1 Intravenous contrast agents, their composition and manufacturers[10,13]

Contrast agent	Composition	Manufacturer
First generation
Albunex	5% human albumin with stabilized microbubbles	Mallinckrodt
Echovist (SHU 454)	Standardized microbubbles with galactose shell	Schering
Levovist (SHU 508)	Stabilized, standardized microbubbles with galactose, 0.1% palmitic acid shell	Schering
Myomap	Albumin shell	Quadrant
Quantison	Albumin shell	Quadrant
Sonavist	Cyanoacrylate shell	Schering
Sonazoid	C4F10 with lipid stabilizer shell	GE healthcare
Second generation
Definity/luminity	C3F8 with lipid stabilizer shell	Bristol–myers squibb medical imaging
Imagent-imavist	C6H14 with lipid stabilizer shell	Alliance
Optison	C3F8 with denatured human albumin shell	GE healthcare
Bisphere/cardiosphere	Polylactide-coglycolide shell with albumin overcoat	-
SonoVue (BR1, Bracco, Italy)	SF6 gas with lipid stabilizer shell	Bracco
AI700/imagify	C4F10 gas core stabilized with polymer shell	Acusphere
Third generation
Echogen	Dodecafluoropentane (DDFP) liquid in phase shift colloid emulsion	Sonus pharmaceuticals

Table 2 Indications for the use of contrast agents during endoscopic ultrasonography

Study	Indication	Agent used
Hocke et al[6]	Differentiating benign from malignant lymph nodes	SonoVue
Kanamori et al[22]		Levovist
Nomura et al[8]	Assessment of depth of invasion of esophageal cancer	Air-filled Albumin
Nomura et al[8]	Assessment of depth of invasion of gastric cancer	Air-filled Albumin
Itoh et al[28]	Differentiating benign from malignant intraductal papillary mucinous tumors of the pancreas	Levovist
Hirooka et al[5]	Gallbladder diseases	Albunex
Ueno et al[34]	Diagnosing Islet cell tumors	Levovist
Sakamoto et al[40]	Determining origin of solid pancreatic masses	Levovist with suspension of monosaccharide microparticles
Hirooka et al[24]		Albunex
Dietrich et al[2]		Levovist
Sofuni et al[41]		Levovist
Becker et al[33]	Discriminating between mass forming pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer	Optison
Hocke et al[6]		SonoVue
D’Onofrio et al[31]		SonoVue
Hyodo et al[26]	Diagnosing cause of chronic pancreatitis/mass forming pancreatitis (autoimmune pancreatitis)	Levovist
D’Onofrio et al[31]		SonoVue
Zhu et al[30]		SonoVue
Kasono et al[7]	Localizing small insulinomas	Levovist