title: Intraoperative transoesophageal echocardiography: impact on adult cardiac surgery.
abstract: Although multiple case reports have demonstrated the capability of transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE) to detect unsuspected cardiac pathology with important therapeutic implications, few studies have examined the effect of real-time interpretation of routine TOE on clinical management of a typical series of cardiac surgery patients. To assess the impact of intraoperative TOE on cardiac surgical management, we conducted a prospective observational study on 238 consecutive patients undergoing intraoperative TOE during adult cardiac surgery. Potentially important new diagnostic information was detected in 39 of 184 (21%) routine and in 53 of 54 requested TOE examinations, and led directly to different surgical procedures in 11 of 184 (6%) routine and in 12 of 54 (22%) requested TOE examinations. Our data suggests that intraoperative TOE may be a valuable tool in the routine management of adult cardiac surgical patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria.
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Sutton
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kluger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016343:Monitoring, Intraoperative; D011446:Prospective Studies