ABSTRACT
Introduction The initial work in intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) imaging appeared in the early 1960s and it was considered as the acquisition of anatomic information of structures lying beyond the confines of an intracardiac space within which the imaging device resided. However, practical implementation of clinical usefulness in humans has been limited by technological constraints, specifically the design of smaller, lower frequency transducers incorporated into small caliber catheters. Only in the last decade have miniaturized ultrasound transducers become available and this has made ICE more practical, leading to the emergence of modern ICE, which uses a catheter-based two-dimensional (2D) intracardiac ultrasound imaging modality. With the rapid development of percutaneous interventional procedures for disorders that were once approached surgically, there has been a concomitant increased interest in ICE in the clinical setting, specifically to assist transseptal left heart catheterization1,2 or transseptal catheter placement,3-5
radiofrequency catheter ablation of cardiac arrhythmias,6-8
and transcatheter closure of atrial septal defect9-11 or patent
foramen ovale.9,12 Because an extremely high level of diagnostic certainty is required before embarking on such highly innovative treatments, concurrent complementary imaging of right atrial structures is desirable in order to prevent or make an early diagnosis of complications such as aortic root perforation, pericardial effusion, and misplacement of closure devices.
