Transesophageal echocardiography for diagnosis of traumatic aortic injury

Transesophageal echocardiography is an accurate first-line investigation in patients with suspected traumatic aortic injury.

A systematic review including 7 studies with a total of 812 subjects was abstracted in DARE. Studies presenting the results of patient surgery, necropsy or clinical follow-up to confirm diagnosis were eligible for inclusion. The included studies compared TEE with aortography, helical computed tomography scan or serum creatine-kinase monoclonal antibodies values. Aortography was described as the 'gold' standard. The sensitivity of TEE ranged from 56 to 99% and the specificity from 89 to 99%; the area under the ROC curve for all studies was 0.95, indicating good diagnostic test accuracy. The maximum joint sensitivity and specificity for all studies was 97%.

Comment: The authors state that no standard of care can be drawn from the current evidence because of the lack of randomised controlled trials.

Ədəbiyyat

1. Cinnella G, Dambrosio M, Brienza N, Tullo L, Fiore T. Transesophageal echocardiography for diagnosis of traumatic aortic injury: an appraisal of the evidence. J Trauma 2004 Dec;57(6):1246-55.