A GASTRIC LACERATION AFTER TRANSESOPHAGEAL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY IN A PATIENT UNDERGOING AORTIC-VALVE REPLACEMENT

Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a low risk procedure frequently used for intraoperative monitoring in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Daniel et al. (1) demonstrated an 0.18% overall complication rate in 10,419 awake and asleep TEE examinations. Gastrointestinal complications of TEE are rare and have been previously confined to the oropharynx and esophagus (2). There are four cases of esophageal lacerations resulting in gastrointestinal bleeding in the literature (3,4). We report a case of gastric laceration resulting in gastrointestinal bleeding in a patient after intraoperative TEE examination.