Introduction

• Investigation of:
  • Cardiac murmurs   Cardiac sounds: overview  .
  • Exercise intolerance.
  • Arrhythmias   Heart: dysrhythmia  .
• Assessment of cardiac function.
• Monitoring response to treatment.
• Identification of:
  • Pericardial effusion.
  • Primary or metastatic neoplastic lesions.

Advantages

• Non-invasive.
• Straightforward.
• Short time requirement.
• No known biological risk.

Time requirement will reduce with operator experience.

Disadvantages

• 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 clinical conclusions.

Potential problems

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

Alternatives

• Radiography   Radiography: thorax 
• ECG   ECG: overview  .

Equipment

Patient preparation

B-Mode

M-Mode

Abnormalities

Further Reading

Publications

Refereed papers

• Recent references from PubMed and VetMedResource.

Other sources of information

• Martin M W S (1995) Small Animal Echocardiography In: Veterinary Ultrasonography. Eds: Goddard PJ. Cab International, Cambridge. pp 131-164.
• Kienle R D & Thomas W P (1995) Echocardiography In: Veterinary Diagnostic Ultrasound. W B Saunders Company, Philadelphia. pp 198-255.