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Echocardiographic measurements of right heart size and function in healthy horses
Author(s) -
Decloedt A.,
De Clercq D.,
Ven Sofie S.,
Van Der Vekens N.,
Sys S.,
Broux B.,
Loon G.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
equine veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.82
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 2042-3306
pISSN - 0425-1644
DOI - 10.1111/evj.12554
Subject(s) - right heart , medicine , horse , cardiology , biology , paleontology
Summary Reasons for performing study Right ventricular ( RV ) function is scarcely described in horses. Objectives To establish reliable echocardiographic measurements of right heart size and function in horses. Study design Descriptive study in healthy horses. Methods Ten healthy untrained adult trotter horses underwent repeated echocardiography performed by 2 sonographers from right and left parasternal standard and nonstandard views. Nonstandard views included a right parasternal view focused on the right atrium, left parasternal long‐axis pulmonary artery view, left parasternal long‐axis view focused on the right ventricle including anatomical M‐mode of tricuspid annular motion and left parasternal pulsed wave Doppler recording of pulmonary flow. During off‐line analysis, 2 observers performed two‐dimensional, M‐mode, pulsed wave Doppler, tissue Doppler imaging ( TDI ) and two‐dimensional speckle tracking (2 DST ) measurements of RV size and function. Acquisition and measurement variability were assessed by calculating coefficients of variation ( CV ) from one‐way repeated measures analyses of variance. The degree of variability was classified as low ( CV <15%), moderate ( CV 15–25%) or high ( CV >25%). Results Most two‐dimensional and M‐mode measurements of RV , right atrial and pulmonary artery size showed low variability. The two‐dimensional, M‐mode and pulsed wave Doppler measurements of RV function showed a low to moderate variability. Right ventricular functional measurements by 2 DST showed low variability, except for segmental strain rate. Right ventricular functional measurements by TDI showed a low to high variability, with a lower variability for timing than for peak measurements and a lower variability for velocity compared with deformation measurements. Conclusions Right heart size and function can be assessed with low variability in horses.