INTRODUCTION

Echocardiography is an integral part of clinical practice in various fields of medicine including cardiology, cardiac anesthesiology, cardiac surgery, and critical care medicine. Therefore the basic principles of ultrasound Knobology, cognitive skills and its clinical application is essential both during data acquisition and for correct interpretation of the ultrasound information. Then only the information obtained from echocardiography will have a significant impact in the initial diagnosis, clinical management and decision making for patients with a wide range of cardiovascular disease. As cardiac surgical procedures become increasingly complex, peri-operative echocardiography (TEE) when expertly utilized become pivotal in intra-operative clinical decision making. TEE offers the advantage of improved quality images compared with transthoracic images, particularly of posterior structure such as the pulmonary veins, left atrium.