Echocardiographic findings in athletic horses with pulmonary regurgitation

Authors

1 Department of Surgery and Radiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

3 3Department of Clinical Studies, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

4 Department of Food Hygiene and Quality Control, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Determining the clinical significance of cardiac murmurs is widely considered in equine practice. Pulmonary murmurs are commonly detected in athletic horses. Echocardiography plays a leading role in assessment of these murmurs. OBJECTIVES: Echocardiographic evaluation of horses with pulmonary regurgitation and determining the importance of pulmonary valve murmurs. METHODS: A total number of 450 athletic horses were examined with focus on cardiac and respiratory systems and 18 horses (8 horses with pulmonary murmur grades 3 and 4 and 10 normal horses) were included in echocardiographic examination. RESULTS: B-mode, M-mode, color flow Doppler and spectral Doppler were performed on two groups and the calculated indices were compared. No statistical difference was found between the values of the two groups (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: No significant correlation was found between severity of murmurs grade and the severity of regurgitating jets. We found that with moderate grades of pulmonary regurgitation, no change in cardiac indices is present.

Keywords

References

Blissitt, K., Patteson, M. (1996) Evaluation of
cardiac murmurs in horses. 2. Echocardiography.
In Pract. 18: 416-426.
Boon, J.A. (2011) Veterinary Echocardiography.
Wiely- Blackwell, Ames, Iowa, USA.
Imhasly, A., Tschudi, P.R., Lombard, C.W.,
Gerber, V. (2010) Clinical and echocardiographic
features of mild mitral valve regurgitation
in 108 horses. Vet J. 183: 166-171.
Kriz, N.G., Hodgson, D.R., Rose, R.J. (2000)
prevalence and clinical importance of heart
murmurs in racehorses. JAVMA. 216: 1441-
1445.
Lightfoot, G., Jose-Cunilleras, E., Rogers, K.,
Newton, J.R., Young, L.E. (2006) An echocardiographic
and auscultation study of right
heart responses to training in young national
hunt thoroughbred horses. Equine Vet J Suppl.
36: 153-158.
Marr Celia, M., Bowen, M. (2010) Cardiology
of the Horse, Saunders Elsevier. London, UK.
Patteson, M.W., Cripps, P.J. (1993) A survey of
cardiac auscultatory findings in horses. Equine
Vet J. 25: 409-415.
Reef, V.B. (1995) Heart murmurs in horses:
determining their significance with echocardiography.
Equine Vet J Suppl. 19: 71-80.
Rezakhani, A., Blissitt, K.J. (2003) The role of
echocardiography in the diagnosis of heart
diseases in the horse. Iran J Vet Res. 4: 114-
122.
Richard, E.A., Fortier, G.D., Pitel, P.H., Dupuis,
M.C., Valette, J.P., Art, T., Denoix, J.M.,
Lekeux, P.M., Erck, E.V. (2010) Sub-clinical
diseases affecting performance in standardbred
trotters: diagnostic methods and predictive
parameters. Vet J. 184: 282-289.
Young, L.E. (1999) Cardiac responses to training
in 2-year-old thoroughbreds: an echocardiographic
study. Equine Vet J Suppl. 30: 195-
198.
Young, L.E., Rogers, K., Wood, J.L.N. (2008)
Heart murmurs and valvular regurgitation in
thoroughbred racehorses: epidemiology and
associations with athletic performance. J Vet
Intern Med. 22: 418-426.
Young, L.E., Wood, J.L.N. (2000) Effect of age
and training on murmurs of atrioventricular
valvular regurgitation in young thoroughbreds.
Equine Vet J. 32: 195-199.
Zoghbi, W.A., Enriquez-Sarano,M., Foster, E.,
Grayburn, P.A., Nihoyannopoulos, P., Otto,
C.M., Quinones, M.A., Rakowski, H., Stewart,
W.J., Waggoner, A. (2003) Recommendations
for evaluation of the severity of native valvular
regurgitation with two-dimensional and
doppler echocardiography. J Am Soc Echocardiogr.
16: 777-802.
Zucca, E., Ferrucci, F., Stancari, G., Saporiti,
T., Ferro, E. (2010) The prevalence of cardiac
murmurs among standardbred racehorses
presented with poor performance. J Vet Med
Science. 72: 781-785.

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics