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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Echocardiographic Evaluation of Atrial Communications before Transcatheter Closure
Published on: February 8, 2022
[Echocardiography in the diagnosis of endocarditis: transthoracic or transesophageal?]
Christoph K Naber1, Björn Plicht, Holger Eggebrecht
1Klinik für Kardiologie, Westdeutsches Herzzentrum Essen, Universitätsklinikum Essen, Essen. christoph.naber@uni-essen.de
Abstract:
Echocardiography is an important tool for diagnosis and risk assessment in patients with infective endocarditis. In addition to the identification of typical vegetations, echocardiography is crucial for the evaluation of valvar regurgitations, and the early diagnosis of complications. Transesophageal echocardiography is, in nearly every aspect, except with concern to right-sided endocarditis, superior to the transthoracic approach. Thus, transesophageal echocardiography represents, in patients with substantial clinical suspicion for an active infection of endocardial structures, the currently most sensitive diagnostic tool.
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