Ultrasound molecular imaging of cardiovascular disease

Myocardial contrast echocardiography utilizes intravenously injected gas-filled microspheres as acoustically active red blood cell tracers. During ultrasound imaging, unimpeded microsphere transit through the intramyocardial microcirculation causes transient myocardial opacification, which can be mapped and quantified as myocardial perfusion. Ultrasound molecular imaging utilizes similar acoustically active microspheres, which are modified to bear a receptor-specific ligand on the surface, conferring microsphere binding to a disease-specific endothelial epitope. Because the microspheres adhere to the endothelium, ultrasound imaging reveals a persistent, rather than transient, contrast effect, indicating the presence and location of the molecule of interest in real time. Molecular contrast echocardiography has been developed to detect upregulated leukocyte adhesion molecules during microvascular inflammation, such as occurs in cardiac transplant rejection and ischemia-reperfusion. Principles of microsphere targeting and ultrasound imaging of microvascular epitopes have been extended to larger vessels to image molecular markers of atherosclerosis. This Article summarizes the current status of cardiovascular ultrasound molecular imaging. Experimental proofs of concept will be outlined and the clinical extension of these concepts to the molecular imaging of cardiovascular disease using clinical ultrasound technology will be discussed.