GOAL-DIRECTED TRANSESOPHAGEAL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY PERFORMED BY INTENSIVISTS TO ASSESS LEFT-VENTRICULAR FUNCTION - COMPARISON WITH PULMONARY-ARTERY CATHETERIZATION

Objectives: Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a valuable proce dure for assessing left ventricular (LV) function, but it has not been widely applied in critical care because of the limited number of inte nsivists who are trained in echocardiography. This prospective study w as designed to evaluate the feasibility of training intensivists to pe rform a goal-directed, limited-scope TEE to assess LV function in crit ically ill patients using a pediatric monoplane TEE probe. A secondary goal was to compare the usefulness of the IEE data with that of data obtained by a simultaneous pulmonary artery catheter (PAC). Design: Pr ospective, blinded. Setting: University teaching hospital. Participant s: One hundred consecutive, intubated, intensive care unit patients. I nterventions: Five surgical intensivists with no previous background i n echocardiography were trained under the supervision of two cardiolog ists to perform limited-scope IEE using a monoplane pediatric probe. O ne intensivist (A) reviewed the PAC data and recorded a diagnostic imp ression and therapeutic plan. A second intensivist (B), blinded to the PAC data, then performed TEE to determine cardiac volume, LV wall thi ckness, and LV global and regional wall motion. Intensivists A and B r eviewed the data from both PAC and TEE, and intensivist A then formula ted a new diagnosis and therapeutic plan. Measurements and Main Result s: Intensivists performed 48 TEE examinations under direct supervision of a cardiologist, and 52 without supervision, but reviewed poststudy . The average duration of TEE was 12 +/- 7 minutes. The intensivists' interpretations of TEE data were deemed correct in 93% of cases for LV wall thickness, 87% for intracardiac volume status, 81% for regional LV wall motion abnormalities, and 77% for global LV function. When the TEE and PAC technologies were compared, it was found that the TEE dat a disagreed with the PAC evaluation of intracardiac volume in 55% of c ases and with the PAC assessment of myocardial function in 39% of case s. The post-PAC therapeutic recommendations were different from the po st-TEE therapeutic recommendations in 58% of patients. Conclusions: Tr aining intensivists in limited-scope, goal-directed TEE, using a pedia tric monoplane probe to evaluate LV function, can be done rapidly and safely, and yield data pertinent to management of critically ill patie nts even in the early stages of skill acquisition. Copyright (C) 1998 by WB. Saunders Company.