Having a TOE at Manchester Royal Infirmary
Before the procedure
You will need to fast on the day of the procedure. This means having nothing to eat or drink 4-6 hours before the procedure.
On the day
You will be asked to report to ward 35 where the clerk will book you in. This means she will ask you to confirm all your personal information and then she will 'admit' you on to the hospital computer system.
Who will be there during the test?
Usually attending the procedure is a cardiac technician, a nurse and a doctor.
What happens during the procedure?
The procedure takes place in a side room on ward 35 and is usually scheduled for around lunchtime and lasts around 15 to 20 minutes. You will be asked to lie down and a pillow will be placed under your head, ECG equipment is attached to your chest. Before the procedure you will have a drug sprayed into your throat and you will given a sedative administered by injection into your hand/arm. You will begin to feel sleepy and may even fall asleep. The doctor will then introduce the echo probe. The machine records the readings from the probe and stores them on a computer. Most patients are unaware of anything during the procedure and usually do not remember anything about it
.
After the test is complete you will be moved from the TOE exam room to a bed on ward 35 to recover. Recovery usually takes a couple of hours.
When the nurse is satisfied that you have woken up and recovered they will let you go home.
You should not drive( if you are old enough) and should be accompanied by a relative or friend for the journey home.
For a few hours after the procedure you may experience some discomfort when you swallow but this will disappear over the following hours. There may be some bleeding in the throat which will settle after a short while.
Results
The results of the procedure will be forwarded in writing to the person who originally requested the test. They will also tell you the results on the day of the test but sometimes you are not awake enough to absorb or remember the information. The results will be discussed again when you are next seen in clinic.
