Cardiac CT is one of six modalities we commonly use to image the heart. Each of these 6 modalities, including cardiac CT, has different sets of use cases, pros & cons. Echocardiography is much more widely available than cardiac CT and can be performed at the patient's bedside. Watch this excellent video on cardiac CT imaging basics with anatomy explained: Transthoracic echo is performed with the ultrasound probe on the patient's skin surface, while transesophageal echo is performed with the ultrasound probe within the esophageal lumen. Transesophageal echo offers better image quality that transthoracic echo, though is associated with the risks that come with imaging a patient with an esophageal ultrasound probe, namely the risks associated with sedation, aspiration, and esophageal perforation. Cardiac echo can provide us with structural information about the heart... things like identifying if there's a mass or thrombus in a cardiac chamber, the size and wall thickne...