Transesophageal echocardiography for cardiac surgery in children

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the usefulness of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) for cardiac surgery in children. DESIGN: Prospective clinical study. SETTING: Nagoya City University Hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Children who had cardiac surgery from January 1998 to December 2000 (n = 90). INTERVENTIONS: TEE was used to the extent permitted by the probe size and the position of the patient during surgery. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: TEE monitoring was performed safely without any complications in 88 of the patients. Based on the TEE findings, the anesthesiologists conferred with the surgeon about the efficacy of the surgical procedures in 11 patients (11 of 88 [12.5%]). The cardiac surgeons altered the surgical repair in 2 patients based on the TEE findings (2 of 88 [2.4%]). CONCLUSION: TEE is a valuable diagnostic tool for monitoring during cardiac surgery in children. The person who performs the TEE should use it carefully after obtaining thorough knowledge of the pathophysiology of pediatric cardiac diseases, their surgical indications, and how specific surgical procedures are done.