May 2001

The cardiac sonographer’s role in performing contrast echocardiography consists of 4 components: 1. A thorough understanding of microbubble physics, instrumentation, and the application of cardiac ultrasonographic scanning techniques for the acquisition of high-quality images during contrast administration. 2. Recognition of the indications for use of a contrast agent for left heart-chamber border delineation, enhancement of Doppler signals, and intracardiac/intrapulmonary shunt detection. 3. Obtainment of intravenous (IV) access or evaluation of an existing IV line for administration of a contrast agent by a sonographer. 4. Performance of the IV injection or the infusion of the contrast agent. NOTE: Focused Update published in 2014 - Guidelines for the Cardiac Sonographer in the Performance of Contrast Echocardiography, see Supplementary Materials below for link.