[Transesophageal echocardiography: a new view of the heart].

Transoesophageal echocardiography is a simple technique which is now the object of a growing and well-deserved interest, due to the wealth of information it provides. This examination does not supersede the conventional transthoracic echocardiography, but it completes it by supplying more accurate data, especially in difficult clinical cases, such as mitral valve pathology, cardiac valve prostheses, intracardiac thrombosis, aortic dissection and septal abnormalities.