TRANSESOPHAGEAL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC EVALUATION OF LEFT MAIN CORONARY-ARTERY

Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) demonstrated the left main coro nary trunk in 30 of 32 patients. Of these 30 patients, 10 had angiogra phically normal and 20 stenotic left main coronary arteries. The TEE s tudy revealed no stenosis in 9 of 10 patients with normal left main tr unks and atherosclerotic lesions in all 20 patients with stenotic left main trunks. TEE demonstrated additional areas of stenosis in the lef t main coronary artery in 3 patients, which included ostial lesions in 2 patients. These features were not observed by angiography. Furtherm ore, when compared with angiography, TEE overestimated severity of ste nosis in 4 patients. In conclusion, TEE is a useful test in demonstrat ing normal as well as stenotic left main coronary trunks.