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Every day more than two thousand people in America die from heart disease. But the
transesophageal echocardiogram, or TEE, is helping doctors better detect heart problems.
Cardiologist Elizabeth Cosmi-Cintron says, “You can look at structures you would
otherwise not be able to see when you do a regular transthoracic echocardiogram.”
That’s because unlike the standard echocardiogram where a transducer is placed over
the chest wall, doctors place a probe into the esophagus allowing them to look at
your heart chambers more closely. “It is much more visually enhanced compared to
trying to do an echocardiogram through the chest wall where you have to go through
tissue, muscle and bone,” adds Dr. Cosmi-Cintron.
The TEE’s probe has a transducer on the end that acts like a microphone and sends
out ultrasonic sound waves at a frequency too high to be heard. The transducer picks
up the reflected waves and sends them to a computer that interprets the echoes into
an image of the heart walls and valves. Dr. Cosmi-Cintron says, “You directly look
at the heart chambers and then you can look at the specific structures of the heart.”
Certain conditions of the heart such as blood clots, a tear in the lining of the
aorta, mitral valve disease and artificial valves are better visualized and assessed
with a TEE. |
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