[Transesophageal Doppler echocardiography in the evaluation of cardiac pathology]

Transesophageal echocardiography is one of the most important innovations that have lately turned up for the evaluation of the cardiac patient. This technical approach consists not only of the study of the two dimensional image but of the cardiac flows obtained with pulsed and color Doppler as well, using a gastroscopic probe to which an ultrasonic transducer has been adapted. In this paper we make a revision of the methodology used in our laboratory. We discuss the utility of this technical approach not only for the study of the ambulatory patient but also for the critically ill patient.