Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc. engages in discovering, developing, and marketing medical imaging agents. Lantheus Medical Imaging has headquarters in North Billerica, Massachusetts, and offices in Puerto Rico, Canada, and Australia. During its history, the company launched the products Cardiolite (Technetium Tc99m Sestamibi Preparation Kit), which has become the gold standard for use in myocardial perfusion imaging, and Definity (perflutren lipid microsphere) for use in suboptimal echocardiograms.
From 2001 to 2008 Lantheus was part of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Medical Imaging, Inc. group.

Ultrasound Contrast Agents:

(LVO) Ultrasound contrast agents improve the echocardiography assessment of left ventricular function and the low sensitivity of changes in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). In addition, harmonic imaging techniques and automated border detection (ABD) together with contrast enhanced left ventricular opacification increase endocardial border delineation (EBD) and the results compared to native echocardiography.

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

From POINT Biomedical Corp
M1091 is a nitrogen-filled submicron ultrasound contrast agent with a bilayered shell composed of a biodegradable polymer and a human serum albumin outer coating. This agent under development consists of microbubbles that have a peak volumetric diameter of 0.57 μm, and a mean initial diameter of 800 nm, with more than 93% having a diameter smaller than 1 μm. Manipulations in the manufacturing process can generate structures varying in size and wall thickness.
M1091 and M1134 are two agents made of the same polymer with the same relative wall thickness, differing only in the microbubble diameter.

From POINT Biomedical Corp
M1134 is a nitrogen-filled submicron ultrasound contrast agent under development with a bilayered shell composed of a biodegradable polymer and a human serum albumin outer coating. The microbubbles have initial diameters from 500 nm to 1.3 μm, with more than 50% having a diameter smaller than a micron.
M1134 can be used in targeted contrast imaging by entering the lymphatic system after injection into the interstitium and accumulation at lymph nodes.
M1134 and M1091 are two agents made of the same polymer with the same relative wall thickness, differing only in the microbubble diameter.