Patent ID: 6884407

Claim:
A method for diagnosing the presence of a disease of the coronary arteries in a patient comprising (i) administering to the patient by continuous intravenous infusion a vesicle composition comprising, in an aqueous carrier, vesicles and a gas or gaseous precursor, wherein said vesicles are selected from the group consisting of liposomes and micelles, and comprise a phospholipid selected from the group consisting of dioleoylphosphatidylcholine, dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine, dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine, distearoylphosphatidylcholine, dipalmitoylphosphatidylethanolamine, dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine, N-succinyldioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine, 1-hexadecyl-2-palmitoylglycerophosphoethanolamine, and phosphatidic acids, (ii) scanning the patient using diagnostic imaging to obtain a visible image of the myocardium, (iii) administering to the patient a coronary vasodilator, (iv) continuing said scanning, and (v) evaluating the degree of myocardial perfusion from a videodensity versus time relationship in the images obtained in steps (ii) through (iv), wherein said vesicle composition is administered for a time period of at least about 30 seconds or longer to maintain the concentration of vesicles in the cardiovascular region at about a constant level, said constant level being of sufficient time to provide a measurement of a baseline videodensitometry.