title: Echocardiographic measurements of right heart size and function in healthy horses.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Right ventricular (RV) function is scarcely described in horses.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To establish reliable echocardiographic measurements of right heart size and function in horses.
  
  
  METHODS
  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 (2DST) 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 2DST 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Large Animal Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Belgium.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Decloedt
authors.affiliation: Department of Large Animal Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Belgium.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: De Clercq
authors.affiliation: Department of Large Animal Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Belgium.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ven Sofie
authors.affiliation: Department of Large Animal Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Belgium.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Van Der Vekens
authors.affiliation: Department of Large Animal Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Belgium.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sys
authors.affiliation: Department of Large Animal Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Belgium.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Broux
authors.affiliation: Department of Large Animal Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Belgium.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: van Loon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000662:veterinary; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006736:Horses / Q000033:anatomy & histology*
keywords: horse; pulmonary artery; speckle tracking; tissue Doppler; ultrasound