Transesophageal echocardiogrphyin assessment of surgical and non surgical intervention in some congenital heart diseases

Abstract

There ts no doubt that the use of two dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) has tremendously enhanced our understanding of cardiac and vascular events in virtually all clinical situations encountered in cardiac surgery and anaesthesia.

Pre-operative TEE precisely defines the anatomy, and aids in the selection of the appropriate operative procedure during the management of congenital heart disease (CHD).

For the post-operative assessment ofthe adequacy of surgical repair, intra-operative TEE has proved to be very useful in the operating room for quick decision making conceming further patient management.

The readily expanding role of TEE in the management of congenital heart disease includes guidance of interventional cardiac catheterization procedures and monitoring of the results.

We prospectively studied 82 patients having congenital heati disease. Clinical examination, chest x-ray, 12 leads electrocardiogram, and transthoracic echocardiography were performed for each patient. Using the sequential approach, detailed anatomic assessment was performed for each patient using two-dimensional color Doppler transesophageal echocardiography. The results of transthoracic echocardiography found to be correlated well with that of transesophageal echocardiography that provided more details.