Double aortic arch (DAA) is the most common congenital anomaly of the aortic arch system, in which the trachea and esophagus are completely encircled by connected segments of the aortic arch and its branches, often resulting in variable airway compression. We present a case of fetal DAA prenatally diagnosed by fetal echocardiography and clearly confirmed at autopsy. The autopsy visualization al...

IMPLICATIONS Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is often used during surgical repair of congenital heart disease. In our case series of 256 newborns and infants, we found that a left paracarinal view of TEE could visualize the proximal left pulmonary artery, a frequent blind spot for TEE, in most patients, except in a few cases with anatomic variations of the esophagus in the right lateral ...

A Mallory - Weiss tear occurred as a complication of intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography carried out in a 62-year-old man who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting. Left ventricular function was monitored in the transgastric short-axis view. Postoperative esophagogastroscopy revealed a Mallory - Weiss tear at the gastroesophageal junction and erosions in the cardia, presumably s...

Although the barium esophagography can exclude the vascular ring, the direct visualization of the thoracic aorta is not possible [1]. Echocardiography can provide a good depiction of the mediastinal vessels and associated cardiovascular malformations. However, it is limited in patients with poor acoustic windows, and visualization of the trachea and esophagus can be difficult or impossible. Cat...

To determine the accuracy of two-dimensional echocardiography in the identification of congenital anomalies of the aorta, we compared two-dimensional echocardiographic with angiographic results in 261 consecutive infants and children with congenital heart disease (age 1 day to 20 years, mean 3.3 years). Two-dimensional echocardiography was performed and interpreted without knowledge of angiogra...

Buckling of the transesophageal echocardiography probe was encountered in 6 of 23 patients (26.1%), although no complication occurred. When buckling occurred, acquisition of images and manipulation of the probe became difficult, resistance was felt when withdrawal of the probe was attempted, and the probe was fixed in the extreme ante- or dorsiflexion. In this situation, the probe was carefully...

A 16-year-old boy was brought to the clinic because of persistence of vomiting. The only positive point was a history of an uneventful car accident 3 months earlier. Chest computed tomography scan showed aneurysmal structure obliterating the esophagus. Further delineation of the aortic anatomy with transesophageal echocardiography disclosed it as pseudoaneurysm of aorta. He was taken to the ope...

Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is especially suitable for examination of prosthetic valves because of the proximity of the esophagus to the heart and absence of interference with lungs and ribs. This article reviews normal and abnormal morphologic characteristics of prosthetic valves such as spontaneous echocontrast, microbubbles, strands, sutures, vegetations or thrombus. Doppler echoc...

Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a commonly used procedure in patients with suspected endocarditis. A rare but dreadful complication of this procedure is perforation of the esophagus. We report the case of an elderly female with multiple comorbidities, who presented with polyarticular septic arthritis. TEE was performed to rule out endocarditis. Though the standard procedure protocol w...

We report a case of a 48-year-old man with a history of violent coughing fits and general fatigue underwent urgent surgery for cardiac tamponade, and who was later diagnosed with metastatic intracardiac squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. After admittance to Munakata Suikokai General Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan, echocardiography showed extensive pleural and pericardial effusion and a mass, 4...