Case report highlights severe gastrointestinal bleeding and sepsis following echocardiography in a 79-year-old woman.
Transesophageal echocardiography is commonly used to guide structural cardiac interventions but carries a risk of esophageal injury. We present a 79-year-old woman who underwent a Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair of the mitral valve and developed an esophageal hematoma. Clinical course was complicated by intractable gastrointestinal bleeding and sepsis due to acute cholecystitis. She did not survive despite aggressive measures. Our case demonstrates the potential severity of transesophageal echocardiography–related complications, especially in patients with predisposing factors such as esophageal diverticula and anticoagulation use.
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Aref et al. (2025) studied this question.
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