3-DIMENSIONAL TRANSESOPHAGEAL ECHO IMAGING OF THE DESCENDING THORACIC AORTA

Transesophageal 2-dimensional echocardiography provides high-quality images of the thoracic aorta.1,2 Although this display technique is generally quite adequate for diagnosis, it does not optimally communicate the 3-dimensional nature of the anatomy and the full extent of pathology. Therefore, the purpose of this study was (1) to evaluate the feasibility of generating 3-dimensional images of the descending thoracic aorta from sequential 2-dimensional transesophageal echocardiographic images in vivo, and (2) to assess the optimal display technique to communicate the morphologic information. © 1993.