Echocardiography in the time of Covid-19: Ultrasound enhancing agents save time and augment diagnostic information

There are currently no clear guidelines regarding the use of ultrasound enhancing agents (UEAs) with transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) for patients hospitalized with Covid-19. We investigated whether the performance of TTE with UEAs provides more diagnostic information and allows for shorter acquisition time compared to unenhanced TTE imaging in this patient population. We analyzed the TTEs of 107 hospitalized Covid-19 patients between April and June 2020 who were administered UEAs (Definity®, Lantheus). The time to acquire images with and without UEAs was calculated. A level III echocardiographer determined if new, clinically significant findings were visualized with the addition of UEAs. There was a mean of 11.84±3.59 UEA cineloops/study vs 20.74±8.10 non-UEA cineloops/study (p