Annals of cardiac anaesthesia
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Review Practice Guideline
Guidelines of the Indian Association of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Anaesthesiologists and Indian College of Cardiac Anaesthesia for perioperative transesophageal echocardiography fellowship examination.
During current medical care, perioperative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) has become a vital component of patient management, especially in cardiac operating rooms and in critical care medicine. Information derived from echocardiography has an important bearing on the patient's outcome. The Indian Association of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Anaesthesiologists (IACTA) has promoted the use of TEE during routine clinical care of patients undergoing cardiac surgery. ⋯ Now, with the transformation and reconstitution of IACTA education and research cell into the newly formed Indian College of Cardiac Anaesthesia, F-TEE is bound to meet international standards. To ensure that the examinations are conducted in a transparent and foolproof manner, the guideline committee (formulated in 2010) of IACTA has taken the onus of formulating the guidelines for the same. These guidelines have been formally reviewed and updated since 2010 and are detailed here to serve as a guide to both the examinee and examiner ensuring standardization, efficiency, and competency of the IACTA F-TEE certification process.
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In 1980, Transesophageal Echocardiography (TEE) first technology has introduced the standard of practice for most cardiac operating rooms to facilitate surgical decision making. Transoesophageal echocardiography as a diagnostic tool is now an integral part of intraoperative monitoring practice of cardiac anaesthesiology. Practice guidelines for perioperative transesophageal echocardiography are systematically developed recommendations that assist in the management of surgical patients, were developed by Indian Association of Cardiac Anaesthesiologists (IACTA). ⋯ These 28 cross sections would provide also the format for digital acquisition and storage of a comprehensive TEE examination and adds 5 more additional views, introduced for different clinical scenarios in recent times. A comparison of 2D TEE views versus 3D TEE views is attempted for the first time in literature, in this manuscript. Since, cardiac anaesthesia variability exists in the precise anatomic orientation between the heart and the oesophagus in individual patients, an attempt has been made to provide specific criteria based on identifiable anatomic landmarks to improve the reproducibility and consistency of image acquisition for each of the standard cross sections.
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Diastolic dysfunction ranging from impaired relaxation of the left ventricle to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a common finding in the cardiac surgery population. It is important for the peri-operative echocardiographer to have a developed understanding of the pathophysiology of diastolic dysfunction and the echocardiographic features that determine where on the spectrum of diastolic function and dysfunction a patient lies.