[Significance of transesophageal echocardiography in daily clinical practice]

Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) has opened a new window to the heart. Its success rate is impressive. In less than 2 decades it has become an integral part of pediatric and adult cardiology as well as cardiac surgery and anesthesiology. The range of indications has broadened since its introduction almost 20 years ago. The combination of unique morphological and hemodynamic information of exceptional diagnostic quality and the possibility to use this diagnostic method as a bedside tool in the intensive care unit and the operating room guarantee that this diagnostic modality will maintain its firm place in the diagnostic armamentarium of cardiologists and anesthesiologists, besides novel and emerging imaging modalities such as cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and multislice computed tomography (MSCT). Technical improvements in transducer technology and the development of miniaturized matrix transducers may, in the near future, allow real-time three-dimensional viewing of the heart even from the esophagus. It is anticipated that this will further increase the diagnostic potential of the technique and its importance for guiding of therapeutic procedures.