HISTORY
In 1976, Dr. Leon Frazin and colleagues published the results
of studies using an esophageal M-mode transducer and thereby introduced the technique
of TEE.[1]
Subsequently, Matsumoto and coworkers
used M-mode TEE to study left ventricular (LV) function during cardiovascular surgery.
[2]
[3]
However,
M-mode echocardiography provides too limited a view of spatial relationships to be
practical for intraoperative monitoring. In the early 1980s, Hanrath and associates
introduced a two-dimensional, phased-array transducer mounted on the tip of a flexible
gastroscope, and the intraoperative potential of TEE became apparent.[4]
In the mid-1980s, TEE transducer design was refined,[5]
and color flow Doppler technology became commercially available, thus making it possible
for TEE to provide not only high-resolution, real-time images of cardiac structure
and function but also simultaneous, superimposed maps of intracardiac blood flow.
With these technical advances, TEE's role was ensured in the
perioperative assessment of patients with a wide variety of cardiovascular diseases.
With TEE as the catalyst, anesthesiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, and cardiologists
began an unprecedented collaboration that has saved the lives and reduced the suffering
of countless patients. No other perioperative diagnostic technique has had so great
a beneficial impact on patient outcome.
