Contribution of transesophageal ultrasonography in the etiologic evaluation of a systemic embolic accident. Apropos of 451 patients

In order to compare the respective values of transoesophageal and transthoracic echocardiography in the investigation of systemic embolic events, 451 consecutive patients (average age 60 +/- 15 years) presenting either with a cerebral ischaemic event (n = 401) or a peripheral arterial embolism (n = 50), were examined. One hundred and ninety eight patients had documented cardiac disease and/or atrial fibrillation; 253 patients had no previous cardiovascular history. Transoesophageal echocardiography revealed a possible cardiac embolic lesion in 37% of patients compared with 11% by transthoracic echocardiography (p < 0.001). In those patients with previous cardiac disease, transoesophageal echocardiography was contributory in 50% of cases compared with 27% of cases in patients with no previous cardiac disease (p < 0.001), whereas transthoracic echocardiography was only contributory in 12% and 9.8% of cases, respectively. Transoesophageal echocardiography was more sensitive for the diagnosis of intracavitary thrombus (7.5% vs 2.2%, p < 0.001), prosthetic valve thrombosis (2.4% vs 0.6%, p < 0.01), spontaneous contrast in the left atrium (10.8% vs 0%, p < 0.001), interatrial septal aneurysm (6.4% vs 1.9%, p < 0.001), mitral valve prolapse (5.3% vs 2.8%, p < 0.01). Moreover, irregular atheromatous plaques in the thoracic aorta could only be visualised by transoesophageal echocardiography (9% of cases). This study underlines the superiority of transoesophageal echocardiography over transthoracic echocardiography in the investigation of systemic embolic events. Transoesophageal echocardiography is even more contributory in patients with a history of cardiac disease.