Role of transesophageal echocardiography in diagnosis and management of central pulmonary artery thromboembolism

Abstract

Acute pulmonary embolism is a potentially fatal condition. Untreated, it carries a 30% hospital mortality rate. 1 It may be difficult to diagnose because currently available noninvasive techniques including ventilation/perfusion scanning cannot establish or exclude the diagnosis reliably in most patients suspected of pulmonary embolism. 2 Direct visualization of the central pulmonary arteries is possible with the use of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). 3 Although TEE, mostly single plane, is now widely used in clinical practice, its role in the assessment of patients suspected of pulmonary thromboembolism has not been well documented. Five cases are presented to demonstrate the value of biplane TEE in patients with different clinical manifestations of pulmonary thromboembolic disease.