ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY IN THE DOMESTIC CAT

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 40  (6) , 882-886
Abstract
Echocardiographic examinations were performed on 25 normal healthy cats placed in left lateral recumbency. The cats represented several breeds, consisted of 12 males and 13 females and weighed 2-6.5 kg. Measurements (12) from the echocardiograms of each cat were made to compile reference values. Measurements included ventricular wall thicknesses, luminal dimensions and contractile indices. Left ventricular wall thickness averaged 0.37 .+-. 0.08 cm and septal wall thickness averaged 0.45 .+-. 0.09 cm. Average left ventricular lumen was 1.48 .+-. 0.26 cm in diastole and 0.88 .+-. 0.24 cm in systole, which resulted in an average shortening fraction of 41 .+-. 7.3%. Velocity of circumferential shortening, an index of contractility, averaged 2.86 .+-. 0.78 cm. In 8 cats, both ventricles were catheterized for echographic chamber identification and cineangiography. These cats were killed, and postmortem measurements were compared with echocardiographic and cineangiographic measurements. The 3 methods of determining wall thickness differed by < 15%, the range of deviations was 0-0.5 mm and the average deviation was -0.01 .+-. 0.26 mm.