Transesophageal 2-D Echocardiography: A New Dimension in Clinical Care

Abstract

Within a decade, echocardiography has become an accepted method for assessing global left ventricular (LV) function, regional myocardial function and morphologic abnormalities. Drawbacks of the standard transthoracic approach are poor image quality in patients with a difficult chest configuration, particularly in those with obesity, emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Application of an ultrasonic transducer is also limited to clinical elective or semi-elective situations in patients who are unencumbered by bandages or monitoring equipment and who can be moved around for imaging. The recent development (1,2) of a miniature ultrasonic phased array transducer for transesophageal imaging of the heart offers a promising means of relatively non invasive assessment of global and regional myocardial function and of morphological abnormalities. Images obtained from the transesophageal approach are generally of high quality when compared to those obtained through the anterior chest wall.