Pro: Preoperative Echocardiography Should Be Reviewed Prior to Cardiac Surgery.

Echocardiography is an important diagnostic tool in modern-day cardiothoracic surgery. Its use is supported by guidelines published by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology in 2014, which make a class 1 recommendation for the use of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in the evaluation of suspected valvular heart disease and infective endocarditis, as well as for the use of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in patients whose TTE was nondiagnostic. 1 Nishimura R.A. Otto C.M. Bonow R.O. et al. 2014 AHA/ACC Guideline for the Management of Patients With Valvular Heart Disease. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014; 63: e57-185 Crossref PubMed Scopus (1882) Google Scholar This recommendation is consistent with the consensus that valvular lesions usually are visualized better on TEE, with the exception of the pulmonic valve, which is located anteriorly in the chest, further from the imaging probe. 2 Pignatelli R.H. Noel C. Reddy S.C.B. Imaging of the pulmonary valve in the adults. Curr Opin Cardiol. 2017; 32: 529-540 Crossref PubMed Scopus (5) Google Scholar