What is a transesophageal echocardiogram? Is there any danger?
What is a transesophageal echocardiogram?
Transesophageal echocardiography is commonly referred to as esophageal echocardiography, or TEE for short.
To put it simply, the ultrasound probe is inserted into the esophagus to closely explore the deep structure of the heart from the back to the front. Compared with ordinary transthoracic ultrasound (TTE), it avoids the influence of obesity, emphysema, and thoracic deformity, so it can display clear images, improve the sensitivity and reliability of cardiovascular disease diagnosis, and facilitate heart disease diagnosis. Ultrasound monitoring and evaluation during surgery.
What are the advantages of transesophageal ultrasonography?
1. Esophageal ultrasound is observed from the back of the heart, which can avoid the influence of chest wall and lung gas, as well as the interference of calcification and strong echo of mechanical valve.
2. The resolution of the esophageal ultrasound probe is higher, so the image resolution is higher, and a clearer image can be obtained, thereby improving the accuracy of diagnosis.
3. Multi-plane TEE probe, through electronic control to make the scanning plane rotate within 180 degrees.
What are the indications for transesophageal ultrasonography?
For various cardiovascular diseases, transesophageal echocardiography may be considered for those whose images are not clear during transthoracic echocardiography, or the lesion is deep and cannot be clearly diagnosed.
Indications for TEE examination:
1. Valvular heart disease, including bicuspid valve and aortic valve disease.
2. Evaluation of artificial valve function, whether there is paravalvular leakage, etc.
3. Congenital heart disease: such as atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect, tetralogy of Fallot or right ventricular outflow tract and pulmonary artery stenosis.
4. Infective endocarditis.
5. Aortic dilatation and dissecting aneurysm disease.
6. Coronary-venous fistula and coronary sinus aneurysm.
7. Drainage of pulmonary venous malformations.
8. Tumors and thrombus formation in the cardiac cavity, especially left atrial appendage thrombus.
9. Cardiac surgery monitoring, including cardiac interventional surgery and surgery.
Esophageal Echocardiography Guided Closure of Ventricular Septal Defect
Are transesophageal ultrasonography dangerous?
Transesophageal echocardiography is a mildly invasive procedure that is generally unresponsive except for pharyngeal discomfort or mild nausea.
However, it needs to be explained that heart disease itself often has some sudden accidents, so during the esophageal echocardiography examination, very few patients may have some complications, such as anesthesia allergy, asphyxia caused by aspiration, esophageal perforation bleeding, acute heart failure Wait.
Contraindications and relative contraindications for TEE examination:
1. Esophageal narrowing, esophageal tumor, esophageal fistula, esophageal diverticulum, esophageal varices, recent gastroesophageal surgery, cervical spine instability, etc.
2. Serious arrhythmia.
3. Severe heart failure.
4. Extremely weak constitution.
5. Persistent high fever.
6. Severe chest pain, chest tightness or severe cough that cannot be relieved.
7. People with high or low blood pressure.
8. Acute myocardial infarction.
