Transesophageal Echocardiogram

A woman and her grandmother stroll happily through a park

Trinity Health Michigan uses transesophageal echocardiogram to take an accurate look into your heart and determine the proper course of action for restoring your health.

What is a Transesophageal Echocardiogram?

A transesophageal echocardiogram creates an ultrasound picture of a patient's heart, just like an echocardiogram does. The only difference is that the camera is placed in the patient's esophagus, allowing greater detailed results since the esophagus is right next to the heart. The patient will be lightly sedated with this test, so we recommend having someone else drive home after the procedure — the medicine used to sedate you may cause extreme drowsiness.

Patients may not eat for four hours before the procedure, which will take approximately 30-60 minutes.