Bracco Diagnostics Inc., the US affiliate of Bracco Imaging, one of the world’s leading companies in the diagnostic imaging business, and Amerinet, a leading national healthcare solutions organisation, announced the expansion of its group purchasing agreement to include Lumason.

Under the terms of the agreement, Amerinet’s membership base of more than 82,000 provider organisations across the US, will have access to Bracco’s Lumason for their contrast enhanced echocardiography needs.

Lumason, internationally known as SonoVue which has been marketed for over 14 years in currently more than 30 countries worldwide, is an ultrasound contrast agent made up of gas-filled microbubbles or microspheres that reflect the sound waves to enhance the image.

Lumason has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for use in adults with suboptimal echocardiograms to opacify the left ventricular chamber and to improve the delineation of the left ventricular endocardial border.

“We are proud to be a long-term Amerinet partner, and to offer Amerinet’s members and their healthcare professionals, the benefits of our contrast enhanced ultrasound agent,” said Vittorio Puppo, chief executive officer and president, Bracco Diagnostics Inc. “This offering further demonstrates our commitment to improve patient care in the United States.”

Lumason is supplied as a three-part kit. Each kit contains a Lumason vial containing 25 mg of lipid-type A lyophilized powder and 60.7 mg sulfur hexafluoride headspace, a prefilled syringe containing 5 ml of Sodium Chloride 0.9 per cent injection, USP (Diluent), and a Mini-Spike.