Feed

Transcatheter heart interventions are expanding, and structural procedures are becoming more complex. This makes detailed visualisation and characterisation of cardiac anatomy and pathology increasingly important. As a result, there is a growing interest in interventional imaging for procedural guidance. Specifically, there is an increasing interest in using intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) as a complementary or alternative tool to transoesophageal echocardiography. Furthermore, new-generation three-dimensional matrix array ICE probes provide the possibility of obtaining multiplanar reconstruction imaging, playing a crucial role in structural heart interventions. To date, we still need guidelines that summarise the technical details of the most used ICE probes and that standardise procedure protocols. The purpose of this expert review is to provide an overview of ICE technology, describe the technical characteristics of the available probes, and present a review by a group of experts on their use in guiding structural heart interventions based on global clinical experience.