Transthoracic Echocardiography Is Possible in Morbidly Obese Patients During Bariatric Surgery

To evaluate the feasibility of an abbreviated focus-assessed transthoracic echocardiography protocol in morbidly obese patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether good images could be obtained from this particularly difficult group of patients for whom acoustic imaging is often poor. Heart imaging could be helpful for cardiopulmonary screening and real-time monitoring.

The study included 186 morbidly obese patients, who underwent laparoscopic bariatric surgery. The mean patient age was 32 years (range 21-52), and there were 95 males. The parasternal long and short axes and apical 4 and 5 chambers were evaluated.

In 95% of the patients, at least one view was obtained. In 78%, two views were obtained, and in 31% of the patients, all views and measurements could be performed.

In obese patients, a modified focused echocardiography examination performed by anesthesiologists in the intraoperative period of morbid obese patients is feasible. The image quality was sufficient to undergo interpretation.