The role of intraoperative epicardial echocardiography in pediatric cardiac surgery.

Intraoperative epicardial echocardiography provides good guidance during congenital heart surgery. IEE helps to clarify the surgical planning and decreases morbidity and mortality due to unnecessary invasive procedures, especially for pathologies involving the pulmonary artery and its branches, as well as for apical ventricular septal defects.