6vt d probe

TOE was performed before surgery when the patient was under general anaesthesia in the operating room. The Vivid E95 ultrasound machine (GE Healthcare; Horten, Norway) with the 6VT-D probe was used to perform the TOE. The TV was imaged at the mid-oesophageal level using a 60° to 80° imaging plane, capturing a large pyramidal dataset to encompass the entire TV. Multi-beat 3D echocardiography datasets were obtained using electrocardiographic gating, with and without color Doppler. The temporal resolution was maximized by optimizing sector width and minimizing depth to achieve an optimal volume rate.

Baseline clinical data were retrospectively collected by clinical chart review. All patients underwent baseline transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). Transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE) was performed in all patients with planned endocardial LAA closure. During TOE, thrombotic material was classified as either sludge or manifest thrombus. TTE and TOE were conducted with a Vivid E95 (GE healthcare, USA) and a M5Sc probe for TTE and 6VT-D probe for TOE.