The hemodynamically unstable patient in the intensive care unit: hemodynamic vs. transesophageal echocardiographic monitoring.

Objective: Transesophageal echocardiography is a diagnostic and monitoring modality. The objectives of our study were to compare the diagnoses obtained with continuous transesophageal echocardiography and hemodynamic monitoring in the intensive care unit, to determine interobserver variability of diagnosis obtained with both modalities, and to evaluate its impact.

Design: Prospective cohort study.