Clinical assessment of biplanar transesophageal echocardiography--a report of 125 cases.

One hundred and twenty-five patients with cardiovascular disease were examined by biplanar transesophageal echocardiography (BTEE), including 67 with rheumatic heart disease (7 monitored during operation), 22 with aortic diseases, 20 with congenital heart diseases, and 16 with other kinds of heart disease. The results showed that BTEE was not influenced by corpulent and pulmonary emphysema and was better than transthoracic echocardiography at imaging the interatrial septum, left atrium and left atrial appendage, thoracic aorta, and mitral artificial valve and at intraoperative monitoring. BTEE was also better than single-plane transesophageal echocardiography, because BTEE could be used to observe the heart and thoracic aorta in transverse and longitudinal planes, thus enlarging the transmission "window" as well as allowing the entire lesion to be imaged. This study suggests that BTEE will have good prospects in clinical application.