Comprehensive assessment of cardiac anatomy in anesthetized patients by transesophageal echocardiography.

Transesophageal echocardiography (TE) is a new imaging modality which provides a unique acoustic window to assess cardiac structures. The feasibility of using TE to obtain eight tomographic views of the heart was examined prospectively in 25 patients within 4 h following cardiac surgery. With the exception of the left ventricular apical view, which was not obtainable in 32% of patients, all views were present in each patient. Thus, TE not only provides a comprehensive assessment of cardiac anatomy, but also allows detailed left ventricular regional wall motion evaluation in the majority of patients.