Lantheus Holdings, the parent company of Lantheus Medical Imaging, is directing attention to new clinical data for its Definity ultrasound contrast agent being presented June 24 at the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) meeting in Portland, OR.
The researchers, led by Dr. Michael Main from Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, MO, examined the data of roughly 1.5 million intensive care unit (ICU) patients from 773 hospitals who underwent echocardiography either with or without Definity contrast.
They found that cardiac ultrasound enhanced with the Definity contrast agent, compared with no contrast, was associated with shorter length of stay in the ICU (4.15 days versus 4.59 days; p < 0.0001); lower rates of subsequent transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) (odds ratio of 0.704 for TTE and 0.841 for TEE; p<0.0001); and increased use of certain vasoactive medications, according to Lantheus.
"The use of contrast-enhanced echocardiography in obtaining accurate and interpretable images is critical in influencing patient diagnosis, treatment, and clinical outcomes," Main said in a statement.
