Appropriate utilization of transesophageal echocardiography.

Appropriateness criteria for echocardiography were recently published and classify potential procedural indications as appropriate (scores of 7 to 9), uncertain (scores of 4 to 6), or inappropriate (scores of 1 to 3). The rate of the appropriate utilization of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in clinical practice is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the appropriate utilization rate of TEE in a large consecutive patient series.