EchoBridge Pearl #18: TEE Advantages over TTE in Cardiac Arrest

Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) provides several important advantages over transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) during cardiac arrest.

Because the probe lies immediately behind the heart, TEE consistently produces higher-quality images while avoiding many of the limitations of TTE including obesity, positive-pressure ventilation, and poor acoustic windows. TEE also obviates obstacles to transthoracic imaging such as defibrillator pads, active chest compressions, and mechanical CPR devices, allowing continuous real-time cardiac imaging throughout resuscitation.

These factors allow TEE to decrease the duration of interruptions in chest compressions required for image acquisition.

Reference:

📖 Gottlieb M, Alerhand S. Managing Cardiac Arrest Using Ultrasound. Ann Emerg Med. 2023.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36334956/

🔗 Free subscription — receive future EchoBridgeMD educational content by email: https://www.echobridgemd.com/blog