ICUS backs proposed CEUS training standards

The International Contrast Ultrasound Society has backed proposed CAAHEP standards that would add contrast-enhanced ultrasound training to accredited sonography programs.

If adopted, the standards would require students to demonstrate CEUS knowledge, including basic principles, safety and administration, routes of transmission, common clinical applications, and enhancement patterns.

CAAHEP’s draft Diagnostic Medical Sonography standards list contrast-enhanced imaging as a knowledge requirement. The draft includes basic CEUS principles, contrast safety and administration, IV insertion and injection technique, urinary catheter routes, clinical applications, and enhancement patterns.

ICUS said the proposal addresses an “urgent need” to expand CEUS training so students can acquire fundamental knowledge and skills.

CEUS uses microbubble ultrasound contrast agents infused during an ultrasound exam to enhance images. ICUS said the technique is used in adults and children to diagnose heart and vascular disease, characterize tumors, monitor chronic gastrointestinal disease, evaluate other serious conditions, and monitor therapy.

Draft standards also align with CEUS content recently added to the National Education Curriculum for sonography educators. ICUS said it provided the new CEUS content.

Earlier this year, ICUS and Inteleos endorsed expanded CEUS training under the updated National Education Curriculum. That update followed the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography’s 2024 expansion of sonographer scope of practice to include a more active role in CEUS exams.