Review Transesophageal echocardiography in the pediatric interventional cardiac catheterization laboratory

As the scope and complexity of transcatheter interventions for congenital heart disease has expanded over the past several decades, so too has the role of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in planning, guiding and assessing the results of these procedures. While fluoroscopy and angiography continue to be the primary imaging tools for diagnostic and interventional procedures, TEE provides complimentary and often times superior imaging for a growing number of procedures. These include but are not limited to interventions on the atrial and ventricular septum, balloon dilation or transcatheter repair of mitral and tricuspid valves, occlusion of paravalvar leaks and other interventions following repair of complex congenital heart disease. The purpose of this review is to describe the growing use of echocardiography to guide interventional procedures in the pediatric cardiac catheterization laboratory, with a focus on transesophageal echocardiography.