Equine Congenital Heart Disease

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Cardiology
• Developmental Biology
• Equine Medicine

Background:

• Congenital heart disease (CHD) in horses is uncommon but presents diverse malformations.
• Understanding equine cardiac development and fetal circulation is crucial for diagnosing CHD.
• Existing literature on equine CHD requires comprehensive review and synthesis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review cardiac development and fetal circulation in horses.
• To describe methods for analyzing congenital heart defects (CHD) in horses.
• To summarize known forms of equine CHD and associated lesions.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on equine cardiac development and CHD.
• Description of morphologic and sequential segmental approaches for CHD analysis.
• Compilation of data on reported equine CHD cases and lesions.

Main Results:

• Equine cardiac development can result in various simple and complex congenital heart defects.
• The morphologic and sequential segmental methods provide a framework for CHD analysis.
• A spectrum of CHD lesions has been identified in horses.

Conclusions:

• Equine CHD, while infrequent, encompasses a range of developmental cardiac anomalies.
• Diagnostic approaches for equine CHD include specialized morphologic and segmental analyses.
• Therapeutic interventions for equine CHD are restricted due to the absence of routine cardiac surgery in horses.