Echocardiographic findings in athletic horses with pulmonary regurgitation

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.