Transesophageal echocardiogram contributes to high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation: a case report.

Background: Difficulties to identify the cause of cardiac arrest in a short period of time lead to prolonging the time for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and to poor survival. Transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) can assist CPR of long duration and improve outcome.

Case presentation: In this case report, a 50-year-old man was scheduled to undergo a endoscopic cervical discectomy under general anesthesia. The patient suffered a sudden cardiac arrest during the operation, and a high-quality CPR was performed with the the help of TEE. Although the exact etiology of cardiac arrest remained unclear and the CPR was performed for up to 90 min, the patient returned to spontaneous circulation, and was discharged after a month of treatment and rehabilitation, resuming his daily activities. After a one year of follow-up, he still was without any sequelae.

Conclusions: Perioperative cardiac arrest is unpredictable and catastrophic, so high-quality CPR is essential. TEE's excellent features make it ideal for use on resuscitation and can improve the outcome of cardiac arrest.