UTILITY OF TRANSESOPHAGEAL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY IN INFECTIVE ENDOCARDITIS- A REVIEW

Despite recent diagnostic and therapeutic advances, infective endocard itis continues to be a very serious illness, with high patient morbidi ty and mortality rates. The diagnosis of infective endocarditis has be en primarily on clinical signs and positive blood cultures. Echocardio graphy is currently recognized as the technique of choice for the dete ction of valvular vegetations, which are the hallmark of endocarditis. We briefly review the use of echocardiography in the diagnosis of sus pected infective endocarditis, with emphasis on transesophageal echoca rdiography. High-resolution imaging of the cardiac valves with transes ophageal echocardiography has proved to be invaluable in the managemen t of infective endocarditis.