Venkateshwar Polsani MD, FACC, FASE
Chief of Cardiovascular Imaging
Piedmont Healthcare – Atlanta, GA
Time: 4:00 PM ET | 3:00 PM CT | 1:00 PM PT
Format: Presentation + Live Q&A
Cost: Free
Sponsored by GE HealthCare
Join Venkateshwar Polsani, MD, as he shares real-world safety and utilization insights from Piedmont Healthcare’s experience across more than 34,000 ultrasound enhancing agent administrations. Attendees will gain practical perspectives on safety monitoring, implementation, and use across a variety of care settings.
Indications and Usage
INDICATIONS:
OPTISON is an ultrasound contrast agent indicated for use in adult and pediatric patients with suboptimal echocardiogram to opacify the left ventricle to improve the delineation of the left ventricle endocardial borders.
Serious cardiopulmonary reactions, including fatalities, have occurred uncommonly during or following perflutren-containing microsphere administration. Most serious reactions occur within 30 minutes of administration
• Assess all patients for the presence of any condition that precludes OPTISON administration
• Always have resuscitation equipment and trained personnel readily available
Review Real-World Safety Data
- Explore safety outcomes from more than 34,000 administrations and reported adverse event experience from a large healthcare system.
Learn from a Leading Expert
- Hear practical lessons learned from Venkateshwar Polsani, MD, and Piedmont Healthcare’s clinical experience.
Gain Practical Implementation Insights
- Discover how ultrasound enhancing agents have been integrated across inpatient, outpatient, emergency department, and critical care settings.
Apply Evidence to Practice
- Understand how real-world experience can support discussions among physicians, sonographers, nursing teams, pharmacy stakeholders, and echo lab leadership.
This webinar is designed for
- Pediatric Cardiologists/Echocardiologists
- Sonographers
- Nurses/Healthcare Professionals involved in cardiac imaging
This program has been submitted for approval of 1.00 hour of SDMS CME Credit Category AE by the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (SDMS).
Release Date: 10/07/2026 | Expires 10/07/2026
Faculty and Planner Disclosures:
As an accredited provider of continuing medical education, Northwest Imaging Forums, Inc. (NWIF) ensures balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all its educational activities. In accordance with the ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education, all faculty and planners are required to disclose all financial relationships with ineligible companies within the last 24 months. All relevant financial relationships have been mitigated by NWIF to ensure the integrity of the CME activity. The planner has nothing to disclose.
Venkateshwar Polsani, MD, FACC, FASE
Dr. Polsani is the Chief of Cardiovascular Imaging Center of Excellence (COE) for Piedmont Healthcare and the Director of cardiovascular MRI and CTA for Piedmont Heart Institute. Dr. Polsani’s research interests are in cardiovascular MRI, cardiac CTA and 3D-echocardiography and their specific applications in valvular heart disease, coronary artery disease and infiltrative cardiomyopathies.
Important Safety Information
Indications and Usage
INDICATIONS:
OPTISON is an ultrasound contrast agent indicated for use in adult and pediatric patients with suboptimal echocardiogram to opacify the left ventricle to improve the delineation of the left ventricle endocardial borders.
Serious cardiopulmonary reactions, including fatalities, have occurred uncommonly during or following perflutren-containing microsphere administration. Most serious reactions occur within 30 minutes of administration
• Assess all patients for the presence of any condition that precludes OPTISON administration
• Always have resuscitation equipment and trained personnel readily available
CONTRAINDICATIONS:
OPTISON is contraindicated in patients with known or suspected hypersensitivity to perflutren or albumin.
WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS:
- Serious cardiopulmonary reactions including fatalities have occurred uncommonly during or shortly following perflutren-containing microsphere administration, typically within 30 minutes of administration. The risk for these reactions may be increased among patients with unstable cardiopulmonary conditions (acute myocardial infarction, acute coronary artery syndromes, worsening or unstable congestive heart failure, or serious ventricular arrhythmias).
- Serious anaphylactic reactions have been observed during or shortly following perflutren-containing microsphere administration, including shock, hypersensitivity, bronchospasm, throat tightness, angioedema, edema (pharyngeal, palatal, mouth, peripheral, localized), swelling (face, eye, lip, tongue, upper airway), facial hypoesthesia, rash, urticaria, pruritus, flushing, and erythema have occurred in patients with no prior exposure to perflutren-containing microsphere products.
- When administering OPTISON to patients with a cardiac shunt, microspheres can bypass filtering of the lungs and enter the arterial circulation. Assess patients with shunts for embolic phenomena following OPTISON administration. OPTISON is only for intravenous administration; do not administer OPTISON by intra-arterial injection.
- High ultrasound mechanical index values may cause microsphere rupture and lead to ventricular arrhythmias. Additionally, end-systolic triggering with high mechanical indices has been reported to cause ventricular arrhythmias. OPTISON is not recommended for use at mechanical indices greater than 0.8.
Adverse Reactions
Common adverse reactions (incidence > 0.5%) were: headache, nausea and/or vomiting, warm sensation or flushing, dizziness, dysgeusia, chills or fever, flu-like symptoms, malaise/weakness/fatigue, chest pain, dyspnea, injection site discomfort, and erythema. Cardiac arrests and other serious but nonfatal adverse reactions were uncommonly reported in post-approval use. Reports also identified neurologic reactions (loss of consciousness or convulsions) as well as anaphylactoid reactions. Overall, the safety profile observed in pediatric patients from the clinical study was consistent with the safety profile in adult patients.
Use in Specific Populations
Pregnancy and Lactation
There are no data with OPTISON use in pregnant woman to inform any drug-associated risks.
There are no data on the presence of perflutren protein-type A microspheres in human milk, the effects on the breastfed infant or the effects on milk production.
Pediatric Use
Safety and efficacy of OPTISON in pediatric patient is supported by evidence from adequate and well-controlled studies in adults and additional efficacy and safety data from a clinical study in 37 pediatric patients aged 9-17 years.
Geriatric Use
No overall differences in safety or effectiveness were observed in patients 65 years and over but a greater sensitivity to OPTISON in older individuals cannot be ruled out.
Please see the full Prescribing Information, including Boxed Warning for additional important safety information.
To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact GE HealthCare at 800 654 0118 (option 2 then option 1) or by email at GPV.drugsafety@gehealthcare.com or FDA at 800 FDA 1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch
JB14493US | October 2026
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JB14493US | September 2026