Echocardiographs and Pulmonary Arterial Pressures

Researchers have found that echocardiographic measurements of the pulmonary artery, aorta, and heart chambers gave a valid estimate of pulmonary artery pressures (PAP) in horses. The ability to measure PAP is key to diagnosing and following

Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Researchers have found that echocardiographic measurements of the pulmonary artery, aorta, and heart chambers gave a valid estimate of pulmonary artery pressures (PAP) in horses. The ability to measure PAP is key to diagnosing and following treatment of equine heart disorders.

In the past, PAP was only done as an invasive procedure with specialized equipment not available to most equine practitioners. Non-invasive techniques such as Doppler echocardiography have been validated for estimating PAP in dogs and humans, but had not previously been validated in horses.

Mary M. Durando, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, a research assistant professor in the Section of Sports Medicine, University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, presented an abstract at the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum on June 1 in Louisville, Ky., on the use of echocardiography to estimate PAP.

"Pulmonary hypertension is a complication of various congenital and acquired cardiac diseases, and is an important prognostic indicator," Durando and colleagues stated.
The researchers examined 34 horses with various cardiac diseases and 10 clinically normal control horses. They compared echocardiographic measurements of the pulmonary artery, aorta, and cardiac chambers with invasively measured PAP. They found evidence of a relationship between echocardiographic measurements of the pulmonary artery and actual PAP

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director, grew up riding and caring for her family’s horses in Central Virginia and received a B.A. in journalism and equestrian studies from Averett University. She joined The Horse in 1999 and has led the editorial team since 2010. A 4-H and Pony Club graduate, she enjoys dressage, eventing, and trail riding with her former graded-stakes-winning Thoroughbred gelding, It Happened Again (“Happy”). Stephanie and Happy are based in Lexington, Kentucky.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
338 votes · 338 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!