title: Preliminary evaluation of a microtransesophageal probe in neonates and young infants undergoing surgery for congenital heart disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The larger size of the currently available transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) probes limits their use to relatively older infants undergoing cardiac surgery. In very young neonates and infants, epicardial echocardiogram is used to assess postoperative residual defects. Recently, a miniaturized microTEE probe compatible in neonates has been introduced for clinical use. We evaluated the use of this probe in small infants undergoing cardiac surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-three consecutive neonates and infants undergoing cardiac surgery at our institution were included in the study. Intraoperative echocardiography with Philips s8-3t microTEE probe done using IE33 platform was utilized to study the preoperative anatomy and assess postoperative results.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-three patients aged 3 days-2 years (mean 5.1 months) and weighing 2.5-11 kg (mean 4.4 kg) underwent perioperative evaluation using the microTEE probe. Good quality two-dimensional and color Doppler images were obtained in all patients. There were no complications related to the probe insertion or manipulation. The findings on microTEE led to revision of surgery in five patients. Certain echocardiographic parameters that could never be recorded with epicardial echocardiogram could be easily seen in microTEE.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  On preliminary evaluation, the microTEE probe provided good quality images in very small infants who were not amenable for transesophageal echocardiographic evaluation so far. The probe could be used safely in small infants without complications. It appears to be a promising imaging modality in the perioperative assessment of young infants undergoing cardiac surgery, in whom intraoperative epicardial echocardiography is currently the only tool.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, The Madras Medical Mission, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Sreeja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pavithran
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Anaesthesia, Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, The Madras Medical Mission, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Kanagarajan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Natarajan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, The Madras Medical Mission, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Bijesh
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vishwambaran
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, The Madras Medical Mission, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Avinash Dayalal
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Arke
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, The Madras Medical Mission, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Kothandam
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sivakumar
keywords: Cardiac surgery; echocardiography; micro-transesophageal probe; young infant