Noninvasive Cardiac Imaging
This rearch study is for men and women who are admitted to the hospital for ST-elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI, or “heart attack”). The purpose of the study is to compare two forms of cardiac imaging—echocardiography or “echo,” and MRI—for the detection of blood clots (“thrombi”), which can cause stroke, and damage to heart’s papillary muscle, which can cause problems with the heart’s mitral valve and lead to the condition known as heart failure.
This rearch study is for men and women who are admitted to the hospital for ST-elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI, or “heart attack”). The purpose of the study is to test whether cardiac echocardiography (“echo”) can detect blood clots, or “thrombi,” more effectively in these patients if it is performed with the addition of perflutren lipid microspheres, a contrast agent that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to improve detection of thrombi with echo in selected populations.
Improving detection of thrombi may help physicians to predict the risk of STEMI patients for stroke.