FDA Issues Warning on Ultrasound Drugs

The Food and Drug Administration is preparing a warning to physicians regarding drugs used to enhance heart imaging in echocardiography.

As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the FDA has been investigating reports of deaths and serious cardiopulmonary reactions in patients who have taken these drugs. The two drugs which seem to be affected by this warning are Definity, which is manufactured by Bristol-Myers, and Optison which is sold by General Electric Co.

The injectable contrast agents which contain microscopic gas-filled spheres are used in only a small fraction of patients undergoing echocardiography.