A Better Look At Heart

Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a newer development in echocardiography providing doctors with better imaging of the heart. In this procedure, a probe is inserted into the esophagus that transmits radio waves. Those waves are bounced off the heart and provide a moving image that can be seen more clearly than a traditional echocardiogram.

These more in depth images are providing further insight into certain conditions, and how doctors treat them. For example, TEE results were found to change or impact the therapy or evaluation of patients with stroke entities in 22 to 32 percent of individuals. This demonstrates that appropriate care can be improved in a large percentage of these patients by using TEE in the diagnostic work-up.

As a result of this research, TEE is increasingly being utilized in the diagnostic evaluation of patients with stroke, transient ischemic attack, or peripheral embolism.



Posted by: Daniel    Source