Anesthetic experience of using the intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography in endovascular stent graft placement of descending thoracic aortic aneurysm: A case report

Lee, Ki Hwa; Kim, Ji Yeon; Lee, Sang Il; Kim, Kyeong Tae; Choi, Won Ju; Park, Jang Su; Kim, Jeong Won; Kim, Chang Yeong; Jang, Woo Ik

Case Report

Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia

Anesthesia and Pain Medicine 2010;5(2):138-141.
Published online April 30, 2010.

Anesthetic experience of using the intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography in endovascular stent graft placement of descending thoracic aortic aneurysm: A case report

Ki Hwa Lee, Ji Yeon Kim, Sang Il Lee, Kyeong Tae Kim, Won Ju Choi, Jang Su Park, Jeong Won Kim, Chang Yeong Kim, Woo Ik Jang

¹Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Ilsan Paik Hospital, Inje University, Goyang, Korea. jy67925@naver.com
²Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Ilsan Paik Hospital, Inje University, Goyang, Korea.

Abstract

Endovascular stent graft placement is a minimally invasive technique that can be applied to treat many diseases of the descending thoracic aorta. For accurate stent graft placement, clear identification of aortic lesion is important and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is an ideal imaging tool for descending thoracic aortic aneurysms. Also TEE is able to detect a perigraft leak that cannot be confirmed by angiography. Unlike angiography, TEE image acquisition capability is not dependent on nephrotoxic contrast dye. The analysis of perioperative cardiac function provided by TEE may be helpful in the perioperative anesthetic management. Furthermore, the tip of the transesophageal echocardiographic probe can be used as a marker to guide stent graft positioning. We report a case of endovascular stent graft placement using TEE in a patient with descending thoracic aortic aneurysm under general anesthesia.

Key Words: Descending thoracic aortic aneurysm, Endovascular stent graft, Transesophageal echocardiography