Introduction

• Investigation:
  • Heart murmur Murmur: overview.
  • Arrhythmia Heart: dysrhythmia.
  • Cardiomegaly.
  • Collapse Collapse.
• Monitoring progression of known heart condition.
• Routine assessment prior to doxorubixcin Doxorubicin treatment.
• Assessment of cardiac function.
• Identification of:
  • Pericardial effusion Pericardial disease.
  • Primary or metastatic neoplasia.

Advantages

• Low cost.
• Non-invasive.
• Straightforward.
• Rarely requires sedation.
• No known biological risk.
  
  Time required will reduce with operator experience.

Disadvantages

• May require patient's coat to be clipped.
• Normal sonographic appearance does not exclude disease.
• Abnormal sonographic appearance does not always indicate significant disease.
• Similar sonographic appearance with different diseases.
• Must be familiar with normal anatomy before can reach meaningful conclusions.

Potential problems

• Poor transducer-skin contact:
  • Inadequate clipping.
  • Insufficient coupling medium.
• Inadequate patient restraint.
• Operator inexperience.
• Inadequate equipment.
• Lung may interfere with image quality.

Alternatives

• Radiological evaluation of heart Radiology: cardiac examination.
• ECG ECG: overview.

Equipment

Normal anatomy (B-mode)

Normal anatomy (M-mode)

Further Reading

Publications

Refereed papers

• Recent references from PubMed and VetMedResource.
• Schober K E & Fuentes V L (2001) Mitral annulus motion as determined by M-mode echocardiography in normal dogs and dogs with cardiac disease. Vet Rad Ultra 42 (1), 52-61 PubMed.
• Thomas W P, Gaber C E, Jacobs G J et al (1993) Recommendations for standards in transthoracic two-dimensional echocardiography in the dogand cat. Echocardiography Committee of the Specialty of Cardiology, American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. JVIM 7 (4), 247-252 PubMed.
• Darke P G G (1992) Doppler echocardiography. JSAP 33 (3), 104-112 VetMedResource.
• Thomas W P (1984) Two-dimensional, real-time, echocardiography in the dog - technique and anatomic validation. Vet Rad Ultra 25, 50-64 AGRIS FAO.

Other sources of information

• Bonagura J D, Miller M W & Darke P G (1998) Doppler echocardiography 1. - Pulsed-wave and continuous wave examinations. Vet Clin N A 28, 1325-1359.