石光 敏行¹, 垣花 昌明¹, 渡辺 秀樹¹, 榎本 強志¹, 杉下 靖郎¹, 中尾 成隆²

Toshiyuki ISHIMITSU¹, Masaaki KAKIHANA¹, Hideki WATANABE¹, Tsuyoshi ENOMOTO¹, Yasuro SUGISHITA¹, Narutaka NAKAO²

¹筑波大学臨床医学系内科, ²富士通株式会社医療機器技術部

¹Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tsukuba, ²Medical Equipment Engineering Depatment, Fujitsu Limited

キーワード : Intracardiac echocardiography, Dog experiments multiplane, Transesophageal probe

We evaluated the effectiveness of a prototype multiplane transesophageal probe (5 MHz, 40 elements; probe size: 13 mm by 13 mm) in conducting intracardiac echocardiography in 7 dogs. The probe was inserted into the right atrium via the anterior right atrial wall and was positioned in the right atrium or the right ventricle. From a fixed probe position, the mechanical rotation of the scan head changes the image plane 0∼180, thus yielding multiplane orientaions. From the right atrium, we were able to image the cardiac structures under various orientations including long-axis and two-chamber views of the left side of the heart, as well as a four chamber view of the whole heart, and visualize transverse and longitudinal images of the ascending aorta. In addition, long-axis and short-axis views of the left ventricle could be obtained through the right ventricle. In three dogs, the wall motion abnormalities caused by acute myocardial infarction were continuously recorded. We concluded that multiplane orientations from a fixed probe position improve the imaging capabilities of intracardiac echocardiography and, when refined, could have many clinical applications.