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Doppler echocardiographic assessment of left ventricular diastolic function in 74 boxer dogs with aortic stenosis
Karsten E Schober1, Virginia Luis Fuentes
1The Department of Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Leipzig, Germany.
Objective:
To evaluate left ventricular (LV) diastolic function in boxer dogs with aortic stenosis (AS).
Background:
LV relaxation, elastic recoil, filling and stiffness have been found to be abnormal in people with AS and were related to disease severity, clinical signs and prognosis.
Methods:
2-D, M-mode and Doppler echocardiography was done in 74 boxers with AS (55 with mild AS, 7 with moderate AS and 12 with severe AS) and compared with reference values from 66 normal boxers. Measurements included isovolumic relaxation time (IVRT), peak early (E) and late (A) transmitral filling velocities, mitral E wave deceleration time, peak systolic, and early and late (AR) diastolic pulmonary wenous flow velocities and related variables. In addition, left atrial (LA) function, LV dimensions and hypertrophy and LV systolic performance were assessed.
Results:
Eight dogs (15%) with mild AS had abnormal LV diastolic function, compared with 16 dogs (84%) with moderate or severe AS. Two dogs (3%) had also systolic abnormalities. The flow pattern of delayed relaxation, pseudonormal mitral inflow and restrictive flow were found in 10, 11 and 3 dogs, respectively. IVRT and E:A were heterogeneous in dogs with moderate or severe AS, being either high, normal, or low. Peak AR velocity was significantly higher (p
Conclusion:
[corrected] In most boxer dogs with moderate or severe AS, LV diastolic function is abnormal even in the presence of normal systolic performance.