Revista portuguesa de cardiologia : orgão oficial da Sociedade Portuguesa de Cardiologia = Portuguese journal of cardiology : an official journal of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
[Value of transesophageal echocardiography in the assessment of blunt chest trauma: correlation with electrocardiogram, heart enzymes, and transthoracic echocardiogram].
To asses the feasibility, usefulness and clinical rentability of the transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in the evaluation of patients suffering a severe blunt chest trauma as well as to correlate the TEE findings with those provided by the conventional electrocardiogram (ECG), cardiac isoenzymes assay and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). ⋯ A severe blunt chest trauma frequently results in cardiac injury. The ECG and the CPK-MB measurements appears both to be fairly sensitive and specific tests in the cardiac contusion diagnosis. TTE has shown to have important limitations in these patients, thus not allowing neither a complete echo evaluation nor a reliable one. TEE plays an important role in the evaluation and management of this type of patients providing rapid diagnostic information and being of high value in the rule out cardiac contusion as well as in the establishment of a specific diagnosis of cardiac and/or thoracic aorta injuries with a consequent better assessment and treatment strategy in these patients.