perflutren at a glance
Medicine class
Ultrasound contrast medium for diagnostic use.
Usual role
Improves views of the left-heart chamber, its inner border and wall movement when an unenhanced echocardiogram is inconclusive.
Administration
Given into a vein by a clinician experienced in diagnostic ultrasound while heart imaging is performed.
Composition
Perflutren gas is enclosed within heat-treated human-albumin microspheres.
What is perflutren used for?
The selected product is licensed for diagnostic use in people with suspected or established cardiovascular disease when an echocardiogram without contrast is inconclusive.
Making the heart chambers more visible.
Improving definition of the inner border of the left ventricle.
Improving assessment of left-ventricular wall movement.
How does perflutren work?
The albumin microspheres contain perflutren gas and pass through the lungs into the left side of the heart. They reflect ultrasound much more strongly than blood and soft tissue, making the heart chamber and its borders easier to distinguish. Perflutren is then rapidly cleared mainly through the lungs.
perflutren preparations and strengths
Injection
Route: Parenteral
Strengths: 0.19 mg/mL
How to take perflutren
Perflutren is not taken at home. A trained clinician prepares the microsphere dispersion and injects it through a cannula while the echocardiogram and ECG monitoring are underway.
Tell the team about allergies, pregnancy, breastfeeding, pulmonary hypertension and any serious recent heart, lung, liver or kidney illness.
Follow the imaging department's preparation instructions; people having a standard echocardiogram can usually eat and drink normally.
The product must be correctly resuspended and must not be mixed with other medicines in the same syringe.
perflutren side effects
Common or expected effects
- Altered taste
- Headache
- Flushing
- Nausea
- A warm sensation
Get urgent medical advice
- Severe allergic or anaphylactic reaction, including facial swelling, hives, breathing difficulty or shock
- Chest pain
- Marked breathlessness
- Ventricular tachycardia or another concerning fast heartbeat
perflutren in pregnancy
Safety during human pregnancy has not been established. Product information says perflutren should be used only when the clinician considers the diagnostic benefit to outweigh the potential risk and the examination necessary. Tell the imaging team if you are pregnant or could be pregnant.
perflutren while breastfeeding
It is unknown whether perflutren passes into human milk, so product information advises caution. An independent lactation review considers exposure likely to be very low because perflutren is cleared extremely rapidly, but direct breastfeeding data are absent; discuss the plan with the imaging team rather than interrupting breastfeeding without advice.
perflutren interactions
Formal interaction studies have not been performed. Give the imaging team a complete medicines and allergy history.
Halothane with oxygen during anaesthesia
Concurrent use has not been studied, so the anaesthetic and imaging teams should assess the circumstances before proceeding.
Common questions about perflutren
Answers are fully visible for fast scanning and source review.
Why is perflutren used during an echocardiogram?
It makes the heart chambers and left-ventricular border easier to see when ordinary ultrasound images are inconclusive.
Is perflutren a dye or radioactive contrast?
It is an ultrasound-enhancing agent made from gas-filled microspheres; the echocardiogram does not use ionising radiation.
Sources
These sources were used to prepare and review this medicine page.
Prepared and reviewed by the iatroX editorial team.