Tei index of myocardial performance applied to the right ventricle in normal dogs

Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction is a cause of exercise intolerance, hypotension, syncope, and heart failure in dogs with cardiac and respiratory disorders. The study objective was to determine Doppler-derived reference values that reflect global RV function in healthy dogs. We measured systolic time intervals and an RV index of myocardial performance (IMP) in 45 healthy dogs between 8 months and 8 years of age. Pulsed-wave Doppler recordings of mitral, tricuspid, aortic, and pulmonic were acquired. Pre-ejection period (PEP), ejection time (ET), PEP/ET, and IMP were determined for both ventricles by separate cardiac cycles. Compared to the mean left ventricular (LV) IMP (0.410; 95% confidence intervals [CI] 0.378-0.442), mean RV IMP (0.250; 95% CI 0.222-0.278) was significantly smaller, and mean ET for the RV (187 millisecond [ms]; 95% CI 182-192) was significantly longer than the LV (173 ms; 95% CI 168-179). A clinically relevant correlation was not found among RV IMP and body weight, heart rate, RV ET, RV PEP, or RV PEP/ET. Calculation of LV IMP with 2 separate sample volumes yielded smaller values than from a single sample volume, with a difference in means of 0.040. We conclude that the RV IMP is relatively independent of body weight and heart rate within the ranges studied and is consistently lower than values derived from the LV in healthy dogs. This study provides additional reference values for RV function in dogs and may be useful for identification of RV dysfunction in dogs.