Intracardiac echocardiography for the guidance of percutaneous procedures

Interventional cardiology has seen great advances in the past decade. A wide range of interventional procedures has been established as standard therapeutic modalities and more are yet to come. Multiple imaging modalities have been used to guide these procedures. Intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) provides an accurate imaging tool to guide the appropriate performance of many of these procedures. Early studies compared ICE as a new imaging modality to guide interventional closure of atrial communications with other more established imaging techniques, such as transesophageal echocardiography, with excellent accuracy. In this article, we discuss the value of using ICE in guiding some percutaneous interventional procedures. We also discuss the imaging protocol for using ICE to guide atrial level shunt device closure. Our experience in using ICE for guiding percutaneous valve placement is also discussed.