title: Transesophageal echocardiography in cardiac surgical emergencies.
abstract: The value and utility of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in unstable cardiac surgical patients have been assessed; 119 TEE studies were performed and evaluated in the emergency setting. The studies were performed in the cardiac surgical intensive care unit (n = 62) and in the operating room (n = 57). There were 81 men and 38 women with a mean age of 58.2 years. The indications for TEE were as follows: hypotension refractory to conventional treatment (n = 83); prosthetic or native valve dysfunction (n = 25); and suspected aortic dissection (n = 10). TEE provided valuable diagnostic information in 107 patients and was completely normal in 12 patients. Based on these results 22 patients had urgent surgical intervention without further studies. The average time to diagnosis was 11.2 minutes. No significant complications were noted. Our results suggest that TEE is highly diagnostic for most of the abnormalities responsible for hemodynamic instability in the perioperative period and facilitates decision making in cardiac surgical emergencies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, GATA, Gülhane School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ciçek
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Demiriliç
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kuralay
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tatar
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ozturk
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002305:Cardiac Tamponade / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D004630:Emergencies; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis; D006801:Humans; D007022:Hypotension / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011475:Prosthesis Failure; D012189:Retrospective Studies