[Contrast echocardiography: from experimental validation into practice]

Contrast echocardiography is at last becoming a reality. The experimental validation step has been completed with success and the first clinical results bring confirmation. The second generation contrast agents which are becoming available on the market, and the spread of enhancement techniques as Real-time mode allow perfect visualization of microbubbles within the left ventricular cavity, but equally at the level of the myocardial crown, thus targeting two direct applications in echocardiography: the first, indisputably, concerns improvement in the detection of the endocardium in all situations where it is insufficient, and in particular during stress echocardiography; second, more ambitious, is with regards to the study of myocardial perfusion with a potential role in clinical practice that remains to be determined.