[Quantification of tissue perfusion with novel ultrasound methods]

Perfusion describes an important parameter of tissue vitality, e. g. of the myocardium, brain, or the kidney. In malign tumours, perfusion is of particular interest for characterization and prognosis. In addition, new pro- or anti-angiogenic therapies require a functional imaging which is suitable to quantify vascularity. Sonographic methods for the detection of microvascularity, particularly related smaller than those amenable to Doppler ultrasound, are reviewed. The main focus deals with the explanation of contrast-enhanced sonography using replenishment kinetics of microbubbles which provides a comprehensive quantification of tissue perfusion. Alterations of the microvascularity e. g., under anti-angiogenic therapy, can be depicted in experimental studies using this novel approach. Further clinical applications can be the quantification of the perfusion in the myocardium, the brain, or the kidney. New approaches to optimize the theoretical model to describe the replenishment, and novel technical developments are discussed.