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Updated: Feb 19, 2026
Echocardiographic Assessment of Cardiac Anatomy and Function in Adult Rats
Published on: December 13, 2019
Reference values of two-dimensional and M-mode echocardiographic measurements as a function of body size in various
A Al-Haidar1, N Moula2, A Leroux1
1Equine Teaching Hospital, Clinical Department of Companion Animals and Equids, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
Introduction:
The aim of this study was to establish echocardiographic reference values for the equine species using allometric regression equations based on body weight (BW) and thoracic circumference (TC).
Animals:
A total of 239 horses or ponies were studied, including 65 warmbloods, 33 Standardbreds, 41 Thoroughbreds, 32 Arabian horses, 28 draft horses, and 40 ponies aged from 1 day to 30 years, weighing from 18 to 890 kg, with no evidence of cardiac disease.
Methods:
For each horse or pony, a two-dimensional and M-mode echocardiography was performed. Within each breed, the relationships between BW or TC and echocardiographic dimensions were examined using power regression equations. Predictions and their 95% prediction intervals were calculated for the echocardiographic measurements.
Results:
Within each breed, all echocardiographic measurements showed a significant and positive relationship with a high coefficient of determination for the estimation of the regression equations using BW and TC as the main explanatory variables. Breed-specific power regression equations as well as the 95% prediction intervals were calculated for each echocardiographic measurement as a function of BW and TC.
Conclusions:
In the future, the body size-corrected and breed-specific echocardiographic reference values calculated in the present study could be used to discriminate between normal and abnormal values in a given animal.
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