Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography : official publication of the American Society of Echocardiography
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J Am Soc Echocardiogr · Aug 2009
Use of real time three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography in intracardiac catheter based interventions.
Real-time three-dimensional (RT3D) echocardiography is a recently developed technique that is being increasingly used in echocardiography laboratories. Over the past several years, improvements in transducer technologies have allowed development of a full matrix-array transducer that allows acquisition of pyramidal-shaped data sets. These data sets can be processed online and offline to allow accurate evaluation of cardiac structures, volumes, and mass. More recently, a transesophageal transducer with RT3D capabilities has been developed. This allows acquisition of high-quality RT3D images on transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). Percutaneous catheter-based procedures have gained growing acceptance in the cardiac procedural armamentarium. Advances in technology and technical skills allow increasingly complex procedures to be performed using a catheter-based approach, thus obviating the need for open-heart surgery. ⋯ RT3D TEE is a powerful new imaging tool that may become the technique of choice and the standard of care for guidance of selected percutaneous catheter-based procedures.