From Philips Medical Systems;
'Clinicians are demanding smaller, higher performing systems specifically designed to meet their clinical and operational challenges. The new Philips HD11 system provides an uncompromising platform, plus advanced options in a highly mobile and easy-to-use system.'

From GE Healthcare.;
'The System of Choice for General Imaging
Imagine a leading-edge ultrasound system so versatile that it can meet the demands of virtually any clinical setting. With the LOGIQ® 9, you'll have a high-performance system capable of multi-dimensional imaging for a full range of clinical applications - from abdominal to breast to vascular imaging. And an ergonomic design that improves scanning comfort and clinical work flow. Now, imagine what LOGIQ® 9 could do for you and your patients.'

From Bayer Schering Pharma AG:
Available in Europe since 1996 and in Japan since 1999. Currently, the marketing situation is unclear.
Levovist® is a first generation USCA consisting of galactose (milk sugar) ground into tiny crystals whose irregular surfaces act as nidation sites on which air pockets form when it is suspended in water, much as soda water bubbles form at small irregularities on the surface of the glass. A trace of palmitic acid is added as a surfactant to stabilize the resultant microbubbles. When Levovist® dissolves in blood, air trapped inside the galactose is released as free gas bubbles. These bubbles have a weak encapsulating shell and are easily destroyed by ultrasound.
Different contrast ultrasonography methods have been developed since the introduction of Levovist®. Initially, Levovist® was an echo contrast medium for improving sensitivity in color Doppler and Power Doppler examinations, but was found to suffer from significant blooming, making it difficult to observe small blood vessels. However, Levovist® improves the accuracy of echocardiographic examinations in such indications as assessment of left ventricular function.
In addition to their vascular phase, some ultrasound contrast agents (USCAs) can exhibit a tissue- or organ-specific phase. Levovist® can accumulate within the liver and the spleen for up to 20 min once it has disappeared from the blood pool and improves the detectability of focal liver lesions and allows more reliable control of interventional tumor treatments. Varied types of information can be obtained by applying contrast imaging at different times after the injection using Levovist® in both the arterial phase and the late organ-specific phase.
1 g Levovist® granules contain 999 mg D-galactose and 1 mg palmitic acid.
Brand names in other countries: Levovist/Levograf

A liver sonography is a diagnostic tool to image the liver and adjoining upper abdominal organs such as the gallbladder, spleen, and pancreas. Deeper structures such as liver and pancreas are imaged at a lower frequency 1-6 MHz with lower axial and lateral resolution but greater penetration. The diagnostic capabilities in this area can be limited by gas in the bowel scattering the sound waves.
The application of microbubbles may be useful for detection of liver lesions and for lesion characterization. Some microbubbles have a liver-specific post vascular phase where they appear to be taken up by the reticuloendothelial system (RES). Dynamic contrast enhanced scans in a similar way as with CT or MRI can be used to studying the arterial, venous and tissue phase.
After a bolus injection, early vascular enhancement is seen at around 30sec in arterialized lesions (e.g., hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH)). Later enhancement is typical of hemangiomas with gradually filling towards the center. In the late phase at around 90sec, HCCs appear as defects against the liver background. Most metastases are relatively hypovascular and so do not show much enhancement and are seen as signal voids in the different phases.
Either with an intermittent imaging technique or by continuous scanning in a nondestructive, low power mode, characteristic time patterns can be used to differentiate lesions.

See also Medical Imaging, B-Mode, High Intensity Focused Ultrasound, Ultrasound Safety and Contrast Medium.

The mirror artifact is similar to the reverberation artifact. Mirror image artifacts (mirroring) can occur if the acoustical impedances of the tissue is too much different and the ultrasound is reflected multiple times on tissue layers. The echo detected does not come from the shortest sound path, the sound is reflected off an angle to another interface so that like a real mirror, the artifact shows up as the virtual object.
An empyema or lung abscess can be simulated by a mirror image artifact of a hepatic cyst. This liver lesion can appear like a lesion within the lung because the wave is reflected off the diaphragm back into the liver. The angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence. The sound pulse hits the interfaces within the liver lesion and is reflected back to the diaphragm once again with an angle of reflection equal to the angle of incidence and then back to the transducer.
Also by a pelvic ultrasound scan the sound can be reflected off the rectal air at an angle so that the deep wall of an artifactual cyst represents the mirror image of the inferior and anterior walls of the bladder. Mirror image artifacts can cause other strange appearances such as invasion of a transitional cell carcinoma through the bladder wall.
Also called Cross Talk.