To the Editor: We report a case in which routine use of transesophageal echocardiography (TOE) during cardiac surgery almost certainly prevented a patient’s death. This is important, as the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing has recently decided that TOE during routine coronary artery cardiac surgery should not attract a Medicare benefit as there is no Level 1 or 2 evidence of its efficacy.1
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- Royal Perth Hospital, Wellington St, Perth, WA 6000.
Correspondence: ccokis@health.wa.gov.au
- 1. Intra-operative transoesophageal echocardiography May 2002. MSAC reference 08. Assessment report. Available at: www.msac.gov.au/pdfs/msacref08.pdf (accessed May 2004).
- 2. Kolev N, Brase R, Swanevelder J, et al. The influence of transoesophageal echocardiography on intra-operative decision-making. A European multicentre study. European Perioperative TOE Research Group. Anaesthesia 1998; 53: 767-773.
- 3. Benson MJ, Cahalan MK. Cost-benefit analysis of transesophageal echocardiography in cardiac surgery. Echocardiography 1995; 12: 171-183.
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