Value and limitations of transesophageal echocardiographic monitoring during percutaneous balloon mitral valvotomy

Abstract To determine the utility of transesophageal echocardiographic monitoring during percutaneous balloon mitral valvotomy, we analyzed data from 40 consecutive patients who had been randomly assigned to undergo balloon mitral valvotomy under transesophageal echocardiographic guidance or without echo. All procedures were carried out under general anaesthesia. The completion rate (100% vs 73%), the procedure time (108 ± 28 min vs 65 ± 18 min), the X-ray exposure time (62 ± 13 vs 33 ± 12 min), resulted significantly ( P