ted for replacement of a pacemaker battery. She had undergone mitral valve replacement with a mechanical valve prosthesis (Carbomedics; Sulzer, Austin, TX) and pericardial reconstruction of the interatrial septum after resection of a left atrial myxoma 10 years previously. The coumadin she was taking was discontinued and she was given heparin intravenously in the days surrounding the battery re...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Since its introduction in the 80s, transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) not only gained popularity but also experienced great advances in technology and currently it is an extremely valuable tool in the intraoperative period. In Brazil, there are no published data on the profile of its use in the intraoperative period by anesthesiologists. The objective of this study ...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common type of arrhythmia, affecting more than 2.2 million Americans. One effective treatment is cardiac ablation, which shows a high rate of success in treating paroxysmal AF. As a prevailing modality for this treatment, catheter ablation using radiofrequency has been effective, but comes with measurable morbidity and significant costs and time associated w...

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is an alternative treatment for severe aortic valve stenosis (AS) in patients with prohibitive risk for surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). Prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) is a rare complication of this relatively novel procedure and current guidelines do not include specific recommendations for its treatment. We report a case of PVE due ...

We present a case of paradoxical gas embolism during CO2 insufflation in laparoscopic nephrectomy for a huge renal angiomyolipoma. Paradoxical CO2 embolism in the left heart chambers without demonstrable intracardiac right-to-left shunt was detected by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). The surgical procedure was stopped immediately, but the patient recovered with mild neurologic deficit. ...

Isolated critical ostial stenosis of left main coronary artery is currently treated by conventional bypass surgery. Surgical patch angioplasty in an alternative surgical approach. Transesophageal echocardiography enables visualization of proximal branches of left and right coronary artery. The report describes intraoperative echocardiographic assessment of surgical left main coronary artery ang...

A 39-year-old woman underwent uneventful percutaneous occlusion of an ostium secundum atrial septal defect (ASD) with a 22 mm Ultrasept ASD Occluder®. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) performed two years after implantation revealed a de novo residual left-to-right shunt through the correctly implanted device. Three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (3D TEE) further clarified th...

We report on a patient who was referred for percutaneous transvenous mitral commissurotomy for symptomatic mitral stenosis. However, transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography both revealed a large mobile left atrial thrombus, occupying almost half of the left atrial body. Because the patient strongly declined surgical mitral treatment, he was administered warfarin for 2 years. Complete...

RANSCATHETER AORTIC VALVE IMPLANTATION (TAVI) IS A CLINICALLY ACCEPTED PRACICE IN EUROPE for patients with high or prohibitive surgical risk and is undergoing clinical investigation n the U.S. and Canada. Some investigators have utilized transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) to select ranscatheter heart valve (THV) size, monitor the procedure, and identify complications (1,2). The use of TEE o...

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is an alternative treatment for severe aortic valve stenosis (AS) in patients with prohibitive risk for surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). Prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) is a rare complication of this relatively novel procedure and current guidelines do not include specific recommendations for its treatment. We report a case of PVE due ...