To determine whether transesophageal color Doppler echocardiography (TEE) is useful for the early diagnosis and surgical intervention in acute aortic dissection, 57 serial patients with acute aortic dissection were examined. These patients were evaluated by TEE with either the single-plane probe (39 patients) or the biplanar probe (18 patients) just after admission. The intimal flap was detected in all patients, and there were 18 patients with type A dissection and 39 patients with type B dissection. The entry was visualized in 83% of type A dissection cases and in 90% of type B dissection cases. In two of 18 patients examined with the biplanar probe technique, the entry was detected in the longitudinal view only. Emergency operations were performed in 18 patients with type A dissection and in 10 patients with ruptured type B dissection. Twenty-nine of 39 patients with type B dissection were treated conservatively. The operative mortality rate of patients with type A dissection was 22%, and that of patients with ruptured type B dissection was 60%. The major advantage of TEE is its ease of application at the bedside or in the operating room, which allows immediate and accurate diagnosis of acute aortic dissection for emergency surgical intervention. Biplanar TEE provides additional acoustic windows, ease of spatial orientation, and more accurate visualization of entry. TEE is a useful and powerful diagnostic tool for acute aortic dissection, and by using this method, one may achieve a more rapid and aggressive surgical approach for patients with acute aortic dissection.