Masui. The Japanese journal of anesthesiology
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Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) has a wide range of applications including monitoring of left ventricular (LV) function, evaluation of natural and prosthetic valves, detection of intracardiac thrombus, mass and vegetation, assessment of surgical repair of cardiac disease, visualization of intracardiac air, positioning of an intraaortic balloon and a coronary sinus catheter, evaluation of thoracic aortic lesions, and so on. Complications are very rare with TEE, but damage of the esophagus or stomach can occur. Gentle manipulation of the TEE probe is always required. ⋯ Assessment of RWMAs is thus very useful for diagnosis of ischemia. Although RWMAs are not always caused by acute ischemia, a new onset of RWMAs, as seen during surgery, almost certainly indicates myocardial ischemia. TEE also allows evaluation of LV diastolic function by analyzing the transmittal flow velocity.