The recent development of sonographic contrast agents (or "microbubbles") has stimulated increasingly intensive studies on the relationships between ultrasound and contrast media. As a result, contrast-specific hard- and software systems have been developed with impressive speed and a new imaging modality, "contrast-enhanced ultrasound" (CEUS), has been introduced. This book is the result of the collaboration of a group of "pioneers" of CEUS, who wish to give the reader a complete overview of second-generation contrast agents, to depict their clinical applications and to present the most updated contrast-specific software for noncardiologic uses, especially for the study of liver diseases. The contents and wealth of illustrations make this volume an invaluable resource for radiologists, hepatologists and oncologists in their everyday clinical practice.