Alteration of ventricular function on echocardiography associated with intra-pericardial disorder in dogs

Two dogs with severe exercise intolerance (Cases 1 and 2) and another dog with cardiac dilation (Case 3) were referred to the Nihon University Animal Medical Center (ANMEC). Case 1 was diagnosed as pericardial effusion (PE), Case 2 as pericardial hemorrhage, and Case 3 as pericardiophrenic hernia. When these causative disorders were removed, the heart expanded, and clinical symptoms markedly improved in these three dogs. In particular, the cardiac chamber diameters and left ventricle fractional shortening (LVFS) was normalized in all 3 dogs postoperatively. There is only one case report that compares before effusion extractions in the pericardial sac with the after echocardiography findings. In this paper, echocardiography was conducted on the three endocardial disease cases, comparing before removing these causative disorders with the findings after echocardiography.