title: Echocardiography in swine.
abstract: Twelve clinically normal pigs were anesthetized with fentanyl citrate and sodium pentobarbital and placed in left lateral recumbency. M-mode echograms were recorded from the area of the 4th intercostal space with a 3.5 mmHz transducer. Changes in the internal minor axis diameter %deltaD were measured at 44.8 +/- 3.3 cm. An index of contractility (Vcf) was 1.12 +/- 0.16 cm/s. The caudal wall thickness dimension measured 0.61 +/- 0.04 cm and the aortic root dimension was 1.9 +/- 0.11 cm. To corroborate the echocardiographic findings, echocardiographic, cineangiographic, and postmortem studies were conducted on a 2nd group of 3 pigs. Aortic root, diastolic lumenal dimensions, and wall thickness were compared and the results never differed more than 2 mm. Echograms can conveniently be acquired from restrained, mature swine, and they provide useful, reliable structural and hemodynamic information, without the hazards or expense of invasive techniques.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000662:veterinary*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000662:veterinary; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D013552:Swine / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*