This is the best imaging modality for diagnosis presence and heart disease and cause.
Patient needs to be in right lateral recumbency or standing.
Clipping a patch of fur will give you better conductivity, use a spirit and gel combination.
What structures can you see with an echo?
Peripheral soft tissue structures.
Anterior abdominal contents
Thoracic skeleton
Cranial mediastinum
Caudal mediastinum
Diaphragm
Pleural space
How do you position animals for radiography of the heart?
Both lateral views and Dorsoventral view.
Which view are you going to take first in radiography of the heart?
Take the dorsoventral view first as the lung on the lateral will collapse on whatever side the animal is laid down. and if the lung is collapsed you could miss pathology in that lung.
Parasternal long axis view
Can view the right ventricle. Situate the robe left laterally and aiming cranially
Parasternal short axis view
Commonly called the mushroom view.
Right pasternal long axis
On the right side, scanning on the sternum, long axis view of the heart but transverse of the dog.
Subjective assessment of Echo
Movement of the chambers, dimensions of the chambers (thickness), morphology of the valves, presence of pericardial fluid.
Objective assessment of Echo
Left atrium diameter compared to Aorta diameter LA:AO ratio (RPSA view).
Left atrium diameter compared to left ventricle diameter - atrium should never be wider than the ventricle, 4 chamber longitudinal view.
Left ventricle wall thickness and diameter - 4 chamber longitudinal view or mushroom.
The vertebral heart score
The vertebral heart scoring system. Length is measure on lateral vs no number of VB bodies (starting at the cranial edge of T4). Width measure similarly. VHS = length + width. Average in dogs is 9.7 (range 8.5 - 10.5), 8 in cats. Can vary according to breed.