Objectives • To deine the incidence of severe adverse events after exposure to ultrasound contrast agents Methods • Multicentre, retrospective analysis of 12,219 Optison™ (human albumin microspheres containing perlutren) and 66,164 Deinity ® doses administered between January 2001 and the end of September 2007 • More than 10,000 doses were given to critically ill patients in ICUs or to patients with acute chest pain of suspected cardiac origin • Data regarding the number and characteristics of serious adverse events were collected Results • No adverse events occurred in acutely ill patients in ICUs or those with acute chest pain • In the entire patient population, there were no deaths, and any adverse events that did occur did not require prolonged hospitalisation or observation Conclusion “The incidence of severe adverse reactions to ultrasound contrast agents is no greater, and may be lower, than that reported for contrast agents commonly used in other cardiac imaging tests. ICU: intensive care unit Deinity is a registered trademark of Lantheus Medical Imaging. The safety of Definity and Optison for ultra- sound image enhancement: A retrospective analysis of 78,383 administered contrast doses Wei K, Mulvagh SL, Carson L et al. Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography 2008; 21: 1202-6 Optison Incidence of serious adverse events Definity n 12,219 0 0 4 66,164 8 2 2 probably related to contrast possibly related to contrast unlikely to be related to contrast