Introduction. Transesophageal echocardiography was introduced 4 decades ago. Its use have had very limited clinical indication. Now it has become very useful clinical tool. Indications for its use are almost as indications for transthoracic echocardiography, especially to assess deeper cardiovascular structures. Transesophageal echocardiography is semi-invasive examination with small number of complications. Aim of the study. To determine usefulness of transesophageal echocardiography in various cardiac conditions based in our experience. Also to encourage use of transesophageal echocardiography as reliable examination. Methods. All of the patients signed a Term of Free Informed Consent, approved from Ethics Committee. We enrolled 425 patients who have done TEE in last 5 years (2006-2010) by authors. Medical history and Clinical evaluation was carefully performed by expert cardiologists. Procedures were performed in two different centers using machines, PHILIPS iE33 and Siemens accuson CV 70, with equipment attached to a multi frequency 2.5 to 3.5 MHz for TTE and 7.0 MHz for TEE multiplane transducer. TEE were performed and images were obtained according to the standard recommandations. Results. The results were analyzed by a standard method of descriptive statistics using Pivot Table of Excel Office 2007. Results. We have analyzed 425 transesophageal echocardiography . The examination of the thoracic aorta in severe hypertension patients was conducted in 96 cases; atrial fibrillation in 118; aortic dissection 49 cases, aortic stenosis was evaluated in 28 cases; finding of source of emboli 36 cases; suspicion for aneurysm of the thoracic aorta in 14 cases, 11 cases with suspected endocarditis; the type of intervention for mitral valve was evaluated in 28 cases. Interatrial septum abnormalities 37 cases; and miscellaneous 18 cases. No minor or mayor complications happened. Conlusion. Transesophageal echocardiography can elucidate many dubious serious conditions immediately after it is performed. So, we think that transesophageal echocardiography is very useful tool in everyday clinical use, almost without complications if it is done correctly.
Key words: transesophageal echocardiography, transthoracic echocardiography, echocardiography
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