Cortriatriatum is a rare congenital cardiac disorder with fibromuscular band (diaphragm) dividing the left atrium (LA) into the proximal and distal parts. Surgical correction of cortriatriatum requires full preoperative evaluation of the structural anomalies including the LA diaphragm and their pathophysiology. In the present case, a 44 year-old lady diagnosed as cortriatriatum underwent surgic...

OBJECTIVE Atrial septal defect (ASD) device closure is routinely done under the guide of transesophageal or intracardiac echocardiography which are expensive techniques and not easily affordable in developing countries. METHODS Using metallic devices, we attempted 32 ASD device closures under transthoracic echocardiography. FINDINGS Of those, 30 procedures were successful (94 %). In two pat...

Figure 1 Transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE). Two-dimensional TEE without (A) and with color (B) showing subarterial VSD (red arrow) and hypertrophy of the basal septum (white arrow) below the VSD. The defect was w5 mm in size and hemodynamically benign as the pulmonary to systematic blood flow ratio (Qp/Qs) was calculated from cardiac catheterization data to be 1.6:1. The ascending aorta was ...

Methods Forty two patients referred for transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) were prospectively included. All TEE studies were performed with a three-dimensional transesophageal probe. For full-volume images, 4 gated beats were acquired for offline analysis. The cardiac cycle was divided in proto-systole (S1), mid-systole (S2) and tele-systole (S3) and proto-diastole (D1), mid-diastole (D2) a...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a relatively safe imaging modality used to visualize intracardiac thrombus. SUMMARY OF CASE We report on a unique, fatal complication during TEE of embolization of a pre-existing "smoking" left atrial thrombus causing acute bilateral internal carotid occlusion, confirmed on angiogram. CONCLUSIONS Patients with history of lung ...

We report three consecutive cases of patients who had refractory hypoxemia and paradoxical embolism during the course of pulmonary embolism. Transesophageal echocardiography showed an atrial septal aneurysm and a patent foramen ovale in all patients. The latter was detected by an early and massive passage of contrast from the right to the left atrium. We suggest that the presence of an atrial s...

Aortic root abscess is a common complication of aortic valve endocarditis. However, aortic root abscess and formation of a fistula from the aortic root to the right ventricular outflow tract in the setting of a native aortic valve and previous repair of an aortic dissection with a Dacron graft is an uncommon event. Transesophageal echocardiography is superior to transthoracic echocardiography f...

We report the case of a man 67-years-old with right-to-left shunt through a patent foramen ovale in absence of pulmonary hypertension. The contrast and transesophageal echocardiography showed significant right-to-left shunt and provided insight about the mechanisms that cause it. The aortic root was enlarged compressing the right atrium. Surgical repair was performed, the foramen ovale was clos...

A 60-year-old male presented with renal failure and right coronary myocardial infarction. Transesophageal echocardiography showed many tumors (Fig. 1). Endoscopy showed multiple ectopic calcifications in a line on the mitral annulus (Fig. 2). Ectopic calcifications were removed and mitral valve annu-plasty was performed. Histopathologic examination confirmed these were dense calcifications. Fig...