Safety of Contrast Agent Use During Stress Echocardiography: A 4-Year Experience From a Single-Center Cohort Study of 26,774 Patients

Objectives We evaluated the short- and long-term safety of contrast agents during stress echocardiography (SE). Background Concerns about contrast agent safety led to revised recommendations for product use in the U.S. Methods We studied 26,774 patients who underwent SE between November 1, 2003, and December 31, 2007. The 10,792 patients who comprised the contrast cohort received second-generation perfluorocarbon-based agents for left ventricular opacification during SE. The noncontrast cohort comprised 15,982 patients who had their first SE in the same period but without contrast agents. Short-term (≤72 h and ≤30 days) and long-term (up to 4.5 years) end points were death and myocardial infarction (MI). Cox regression models were used. Immediate contrast agent-related adverse effects were also reported. Results The contrast cohort had older patients (mean [SD] age, 65.8 [12.1] years vs. 62.6 [14.1] years; p Conclusions The use of contrast agents during SE was not associated with an increased short-term or long-term risk of death or MI.