BACKGROUND Transcatheter device occlusion of atrial septal defects is an attractive approach, but its efficacy and place in patient management remain to be determined. METHODS AND RESULTS To evaluate the medium-term results of atrial septal defect device occlusion and factors influencing residual shunting, transesophageal and transthoracic echocardiograms of 49 patients were reviewed. Transes...

The purpose of this paper is to review the usefulness of multiplanar transesophageal echocardiography before, during and after percutaneous transcatheter closure of secundum atrial septal defects. Transesophageal echocardiography imaging techniques,including their role in patient selection, procedural guidance and immediate assessment of technical success and complications are described and dis...

To evaluate left-to-right shunts after percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty, we studied 15 consecutive patients by using transesophageal color Doppler flow-imaging system. Transesophageal color Doppler examinations were performed five times in each patient (before valvuloplasty and 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, and 6 months after valvuloplasty). No shunt flow was observed before valvuloplasty. O...

The patient is a 54-year-old asymptomatic male with a tumor in the right atrium that was diagnosed on transesophageal echocardiography and confirmed as a lipoma of the right atrium on computerized tomography. The patient underwent surgical repair with extracorporeal circulation. The tumor was resected, and its base of implantation in the atrium was repaired with a flap of bovine pericardium. Th...

An asymptomatic patient was discovered to have a large right atrial myxoma by transthoracic echocardiography. Preoperative considerations included the possibility of satellite lesions, left atrial origin, and a question of tricuspid valve involvement. Subsequent operative transesophageal echocardiography demonstrated single-stalk attachment in the right atrial septal wall and no satellite lesio...

With its unique en face view, real time three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography has been reported to be more precise than conventional two-dimensional studies in evaluating mitral regurgitation etiology, and can locate diseased segments correctly. We present a case with severe mitral regurgitation due to anterior mitral leaflet perforation. Intraoperative real time three-dimensional ...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to determine whether transesophageal echocardiography could clarify the nature of equivocal echodense structures in the left ventricular apical region frequently found on transthoracic echocardiography by directing the ultrasound beam from the left ventricular base to the apex and achieving better image quality. BACKGROUND Transthoracic echocardiography of...