title: Transesophageal imaging of the mid to distal left pulmonary artery in congenital heart disease.
abstract: We assessed how well transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) images the left pulmonary artery (LPA) in congenital heart disease (CHD). Seventy-nine consecutive patients with CHD were studied. Ideal imaging displayed the mid to distal LPA from the takeoff of the upper lobe artery through the second bifurcation. Imaging quality was graded from 1 (excellent) to 5 (not visualized). Imaging quality was excellent in 8 (10%) patients, good in 25 (32%), fair in 23 (29%), and poor in 12 (15%); the LPA was not visualized in 11 (14%) patients. Imaging grade averaged 2.9 +/- 1.2 (SD) and correlated poorly with weight (r = 0.24) but was better in patients without prior operation (grade 2.8 vs 3.3, P <.05). In 2 patients, TEE showed residual stenosis. Thus informative LPA imaging by TEE can be achieved in many patients with CHD and has the potential to change intraoperative or postoperative treatment.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Echocardiography Laboratory, New York University Medical Center, 10016, USA.
authors.forename: C K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Phoon
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rutkowski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015588:Observer Variation; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*