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Presentation date

Summer 8-6-2026

College, Institute, or Department

Internal Medicine (SURP)

Faculty Mentor

Kaveh Bookani, MD

Research Mentor

Kaveh Bookani, MD

Abstract

Transesophageal Echocardiograms (TEE) are used to evaluate the heart more clearly, especially if a Transthoracic Echocardiogram (TTE) is not clear. However, the procedure requires sedation, and complications can arise as a result. The necessity of the TEE must be determined to ensure unnecessary risks are not taken. Our study investigated adult patients from January 2024 to March 2024 (n=300) who received TEEs because of endocarditis (n=59) or stroke (n=24). We determined the necessity of the TEE in endocarditis patients by assessing variables such as cardiac device, strain of pathogen, whether the TTE was diagnostic, and whether the TEE provided additional information. For our Stroke cohort, we examined age, whether the TTE was diagnostic, whether the bubble study was abnormal, and whether the TEE provided additional information. We found that, compared to published research, our endocarditis cohort was given redundant TEEs at a rate of 17% [95% CI: 5%-22%]. This is a non-significant difference compared to the published research. Due to a lack of literature regarding TEE necessity in stroke, we compared whether there was a change in treatment management. We found that our cohort had treatment management altered in 33% of cases [95% CI: 9%-57%], though this was a non-significant difference compared to a published study. The limitations in our study include a low sample population and a lack of studies performing a robust comparison. A future direction for research includes contributing to the gap in research about the necessity of stroke TEEs as well as expanding cohort size in future studies.

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Keywords

Transesophageal Echocardiogram, Stroke, Endocarditis, Evaluation

Evaluation of the Usage of Transesophageal Echocardiogram in Patients with Endocarditis or Stroke

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