[Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography for emergency diagnostics in noncardiac surgery patients].

Abstract

Due to the development of compact and mobile devices, transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is now being used as one important point-of-care diagnostic method in emergency rooms, intensive care units and operating rooms. In the first part of this advanced training series, general aspects of the examination method and the procedure as well as indications and contraindications were outlined. In addition, an overview of application areas beyond cardiac surgery in which TEE can be used to monitor the patient or to assist with the operative procedure was provided. In the second part, the main findings during intraoperative TEE in the event of hemodynamic instability or unexplained hypoxemia are presented. A shortened emergency examination as proposed by Reeves et al. is outlined. The article concludes with an outlook on semiautomatic interpretation software and computer-aided image acquisition.