Global ultrasound ‘bubble community’ rallies around Ukrainian children in need of imaging
An international nonprofit medical society is teaming with a supplier of ultrasound contrast media to aid pediatric patients in Ukraine.
The International Contrast Ultrasound Society (ICUS) announced the work June 27.
ICUS says it’s working with Italy-based Bracco Diagnostics, whose Sonovue microbubble preparation is the only ultrasound contrast agent approved for pediatric use in Europe. (It’s marketed in the U.S. as Lumason.)
In the announcement, ICUS relays the story of a young patient helped by a pediatric radiologist at the Western Ukrainian Specialized Children’s Medical Centre in relatively safe Lviv.
The teenage girl, who landed in the rad’s care after fleeing her small village, was “without parents, was in kidney failure and had a large mass on her right kidney that was suspect for cancer,” the radiologist, Dr. Viktor Zhelov, recalls.
As it happened, Zhelov is an ultrasound expert and an ICUS member.
‘The ICUS Bubble Community Exists to Do the Right Thing’
ICUS co-president Steven Feinstein, MD, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, expresses confidence in the ultrasound-based effort to make a difference in the invaded country.
“The ICUS bubble community exists to do the right thing for patients throughout the world,” Feinstein says, “and there can be no doubt that microbubble-based ultrasound contrast agents will improve care, change outcomes and save young lives entrusted to Dr. Zhelov.”
Bracco CEO Fulvio Renoldi Bracco pledged his “full support” to the endeavor as soon as he learned of it, according to ICUS.
From the announcement:
In record time, Bracco’s medical, legal and supply chain departments mobilized and hundreds of vials found their way from Italy via Belgium and Poland to Dr. Zhelov in L’viv. That was just the start.
Ultrasound Microbubbles a ‘Huge Advantage for Pediatric Patients’
The announcement also provides background on contrast-enhanced ultrasound.
Although ultrasound microbubbles are mainly used for imaging adults, “they offer a huge advantage for pediatric patients,” says Kassa Darge, MD, PhD, chief radiologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an ICUS board member.
Darge underscores that ultrasound enhanced with these contrast agents can “completely eliminate radiation exposure associated with other forms of diagnostic imaging, avoid sedation or anesthesia, and depict pathology clearly and reliably.”
To find out how the teenage patient has fared and learn more about ICUS, read the whole thing
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Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.