Three-Dimensional Transesophageal Echocardiography in Congenital Heart Disease

Over the past two decades, real-time three-dimensional echocardiography has emerged as an important new technique in echocardiography for the diagnosis and evaluation of both acquired and congenital heart disease. In recent years, three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (3D TEE) probes have become available. While these probes were designed primarily for use in the adult age group, they have also been utilized effectively in older children and adolescents. These probes are capable of real-time 3D TEE imaging and color flow Doppler, providing excellent spatial detail of selected acquired and congenital heart defects. Thus, 3D TEE serves an important and ever-increasing role for preoperative diagnostic evaluation, interventional cardiology procedures, and cardiac surgery. This chapter describes the technique of 3D TEE imaging as well as some of its most common applications for congenital heart disease evaluation.