{"id":47937,"date":"2005-02-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-02-10T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/"},"modified":"2022-08-28T21:41:00","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T02:41:00","slug":"microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/","title":{"rendered":"Microscopic bubbles unlock key to detecting heart disease early"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"panel body-content\"><div class=\"panel__container\"><p><DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>Tiny bubbles too small to see with the human eye are the newest, and perhaps best, defense against heart disease for patients at The Nebraska Medical Center. Called \u201cmicro-bubbles,\u201d they help doctors see blood flowing through a patient\u2019s arteries and veins. When combined with ultrasound, the bubbles can predict heart disease even more precisely\u2014and at a much lower cost\u2014than nuclear imaging. To date, The Nebraska Medical Center has the most experience in the country with micro-bubbles.<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>Thomas Porter, M.D., a cardiologist, UNMC professor of medicine and Theodore F. Hubbard Distinguished Chair of Cardiology, began studying micro-bubbles in 1994.&nbsp; Six years later, he began human trials. From 2000 to 2003, more than 1,500 patients went through micro-bubble testing at The Nebraska Medical Center.&nbsp; What Dr. Porter found was not only a way to assess the health of the heart muscle, but also to monitor blood flow. <\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>\u201cWhen blood flow slows down, we know there\u2019s a blockage.&nbsp; Catching that early enough allows us to treat the blockage and hopefully prevent a heart attack,\u201d said Dr. Porter.<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>Just how big are the bubbles?&nbsp; They measure 3 to 4 microns, which makes them about <I>85 times smaller<\/I> than the dot punctuating the end of this sentence.&nbsp; Injected into the blood stream, these bubbles, filled with fluorocarbons, act as a red blood cell tracer.&nbsp; The <\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>fluorocarbon filling lights up on ultrasound, detecting changes in blood flow and problems with the heart muscle\u2014both of which are indicators of heart disease, blockages and even an impending heart attack.<\/DIV><\/DIV><BR><br \/>\n<DIV><B>Precision and Cost Savings<\/B><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>&nbsp;\u201cThe resolution achieved with this technique is more precise than nuclear imaging and traditional ultrasound,\u201d Porter noted.&nbsp; \u201cThe bubbles pose no risk to patients, add no time to a conventional echocardiogram, and are significantly less expensive than traditional testing.\u201d<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>Standard nuclear tests cost around $1,500; an angiogram can run more than $5,000.&nbsp; By contrast, the micro-bubbles cost about $120 and are used in conjunction with an echocardiogram which costs about $500.&nbsp; So the cost savings is significant and the test is more precise than any other.&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><B>Bubbling Through the Body to Diagnose or Medicate<\/B><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>Made of a lipid or albumin shell, the bubbles are filled with fluorocarbons that the body naturally expels through the lungs.&nbsp; The bubbles are injected into the blood stream where they naturally follow the red blood cells through the body.&nbsp; The fluorocarbon in the bubbles makes them easy to find on ultrasound.&nbsp; They help doctors determine the rate of blood flow and spots where that rate slows down or even stops\u2014thus spotting a blocked artery, vein or even capillary.&nbsp; Once the bubbles enter the heart, doctors can see the heart\u2019s border and thickness, which helps them determine if the heart is enlarged (another sign of heart disease).&nbsp; The bubbles then travel into the lungs, where they are breathed out without the patient even knowing.<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>\u201cThe micro-bubble can go beyond diagnostics to treatment,\u201d explained Dr. Porter. \u201cIf we detect a blockage or scarring in the wall of a blood vessel, we can coat a micro-bubble with medication that prevents further injury.&nbsp; Once injected into the blood stream, that medication gets exactly where it\u2019s needed.\u201d<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>The Nebraska Medical Center is the only site for human trials on that use of the micro-bubbles.&nbsp; <\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV>\u201cI can see many uses for the micro-bubble in the future that go far beyond cardiology,\u201d said Dr. Porter, who presented his research to the American Heart Association meeting in New Orleans in November and will present to the American College of Cardiologists in Orlando, Fla. in March.<\/DIV><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tiny bubbles too small to see with the human eye are the newest, and perhaps best, defense against heart disease for patients at The Nebraska Medical Center. Called \u201cmicro-bubbles,\u201d they help doctors see blood flowing through a patient\u2019s arteries and veins. When combined with ultrasound, the bubbles can predict heart disease even more precisely\u2014and at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-press-release"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Microscopic bubbles unlock key to detecting heart disease early<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tiny bubbles too small to see with the human eye are the newest, and perhaps best, defense against heart disease for patients at The Nebraska Medical\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Microscopic bubbles unlock key to detecting heart disease early\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tiny bubbles too small to see with the human eye are the newest, and perhaps best, defense against heart disease for patients at The Nebraska Medical\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-02-10T06:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-29T02:41:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"UNMC Today\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"UNMC Today\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"UNMC Today\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b7a10902696c45a5370b361e3a9ce621\"},\"headline\":\"Microscopic bubbles unlock key to detecting heart disease early\",\"datePublished\":\"2005-02-10T06:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-29T02:41:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/\"},\"wordCount\":619,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/\",\"name\":\"Microscopic bubbles unlock key to detecting heart disease early\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2005-02-10T06:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-29T02:41:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Tiny bubbles too small to see with the human eye are the newest, and perhaps best, defense against heart disease for patients at The Nebraska Medical\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Microscopic bubbles unlock key to detecting heart disease early\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":153,\"caption\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/unmc\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/iamunmc\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/UNMCEDU\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b7a10902696c45a5370b361e3a9ce621\",\"name\":\"UNMC Today\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/strategic-communications\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/d1fe173d08e959397adf34b1d77e88d7\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Microscopic bubbles unlock key to detecting heart disease early","description":"Tiny bubbles too small to see with the human eye are the newest, and perhaps best, defense against heart disease for patients at The Nebraska Medical","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Microscopic bubbles unlock key to detecting heart disease early","og_description":"Tiny bubbles too small to see with the human eye are the newest, and perhaps best, defense against heart disease for patients at The Nebraska Medical","og_url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","article_published_time":"2005-02-10T06:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-29T02:41:00+00:00","author":"UNMC Today","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@unmc","twitter_site":"@unmc","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"UNMC Today","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/"},"author":{"name":"UNMC Today","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b7a10902696c45a5370b361e3a9ce621"},"headline":"Microscopic bubbles unlock key to detecting heart disease early","datePublished":"2005-02-10T06:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-29T02:41:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/"},"wordCount":619,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/","name":"Microscopic bubbles unlock key to detecting heart disease early","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"datePublished":"2005-02-10T06:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-29T02:41:00+00:00","description":"Tiny bubbles too small to see with the human eye are the newest, and perhaps best, defense against heart disease for patients at The Nebraska Medical","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2005\/02\/10\/microscopic-bubbles-unlock-key-to-detecting-heart-disease-early\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Microscopic bubbles unlock key to detecting heart disease early"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"Newsroom","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization","name":"University of Nebraska Medical Center","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","width":500,"height":153,"caption":"University of Nebraska Medical Center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","https:\/\/x.com\/unmc","https:\/\/instagram.com\/iamunmc","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/UNMCEDU"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b7a10902696c45a5370b361e3a9ce621","name":"UNMC Today","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/strategic-communications"],"url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/d1fe173d08e959397adf34b1d77e88d7\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75453,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47937\/revisions\/75453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}