A diagnostic procedure that uses echocardiography to assess the heart’s function.
An echocardiogram (echo) uses ultrasound to create pictures of your heart’s movement. A transesophageal echo (TEE) test is a type of echo that uses a long, thin, tube (endoscope) to guide the ultrasound transducer down the esophagus (“food pipe” that goes from the mouth to the stomach). This lets the doctor see pictures of the heart without the ribs or lungs getting in the way A transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) is a diagnostic procedure that uses echocardiography to assess the heart’s function. Echocardiography is a procedure used to assess the heart's function and structures. TEE may be used during surgery to assess the cardiac status of patients with known cardiac disease who are undergoing noncardiac procedures, and during heart surgery to evaluate the effects of surgical intervention to the heart, such as bypass surgery or valve repair or replacement. Transesophageal (tranz-ih-sof-uh-JEE-ul) echocardiography (EK-o-kar-de-OG-rah-fee), or TEE, is a test that uses sound waves to create high-quality moving pictures of the heart and its blood vessels. Overview. During echo, a device called a transducer is used to send sound waves (called ultrasound) to the heart. As the ultrasound waves bounce off the structures of the heart, a computer in the echo machine converts them into pictures on a screen. A transesophageal echocardiogram is performed by inserting a probe with a transducer down the esophagus rather than placing the transducer on the chest in a transthoracic echocardiogram. TEE may be used during surgery to assess the cardiac status of patients with known cardiac disease who are undergoing noncardiac procedures, and during heart surgery to evaluate the effects of surgical intervention to the heart, such as bypass surgery or valve repair or replacement. 1 TEE is a test that uses sound waves to make pictures of your heart’s muscle and chambers, valves and outer lining (pericardium), as well as the blood vessels that connect to your heart. Doctors use TEE to find problems in your heart’s structure and function. TEE can give clearer pictures of the upper chambers of the heart, and the valves between the upper and lower chambers of the heart, than standard echocardiograms. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a test that produces pictures of your heart. TEE uses high-frequency sound waves (ultrasound) to make detailed pictures of your heart and the arteries that lead to and from it. Doctors use TEE to find problems in your heart’s structure and function. TEE can give clearer pictures of the upper chambers of the heart, and the valves between the upper and lower chambers of the heart, than standard echocardiograms. A transesophageal echo (TEE) test is a type of echo test in which the ultrasound transducer, positioned on an endoscope, is guided down the patient's throat into the esophagus (the food pipe leading from the mouth into the stomach). An endoscope is a long, thin, flexible instrument that is about ½ inch in diameter.  A transesophageal echocardiogram, or TEE (TOE in the United Kingdom, reflecting the spelling transoesophageal), is an alternative way to perform an echocardiogram. A specialized probe containing an ultrasound transducer at its tip is passed into the patient's esophagus. 
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments_and_procedures/hic_Transesophageal_Echocardiogram_TEE http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary/test_procedures/cardiovascular/transesophageal_echocardiogram_92,p07986/ http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/tee/ http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary/test_procedures/cardiovascular/transesophageal_echocardiogram_92,p07986/ http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartAttack/SymptomsDiagnosisofHeartAttack/Transesophageal-Echocardiography-TEE_UCM_441655_Article.jsp http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartAttack/SymptomsDiagnosisofHeartAttack/Transesophageal-Echocardiography-TEE_UCM_441655_Article.jsp http://my.clevelandclinic.org/services/heart/diagnostics-testing/ultrasound-tests/transesophageal-echocardiogram-tee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transesophageal_echocardiogram
what is transesophageal echocardiogram