Perioperative transoesophageal echocardiography in noncardiac surgery

Transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE) is a semi invasive technique that allows a real time evaluation of cardiac anatomy, regional and global function. Its use is becoming an irreplaceable tool for the assessment and therapeutic management of critical patients in the perioperative setting. A systematic search for reports describing indications for intraoperative TOE monitoring was carried out. Search terms were perioperative TEE/TOE, intraoperative monitoring, TEE/TOE and vascular surgery, neurosurgery, orthopaedic surgery, transplant surgery