Heart disease in sports horses: Current recommendations of the 2014 ACVIM / ECEIM consensus statement

Abstract

Heart murmurs and arrhythmias are common in horses. Assessment of their clinical relevance concerning health, performance, safety and longevity of sports horses is of highest importance. A comprehensive cardiovascular examination is crucial for diagnosis and assessment of the severity of disease. Recently, an expert panel of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) and the European College of Equine Internal Medicine (ECEIM) developed a consensus statement containing recommendations for sports horses with heart disease. This article summarizes the most relevant recommendations for practitioners, considering the most common and most important cardiac disorders in adult sports horses. These include mitral, aortic and tricuspid insufficiency, ventricular septal defects, atrial fibrillation as well as supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias. Despite the fact that most horses with cardiovascular disease maintain a sufficient performance capacity, regular evaluations are indicated in horses with clinically relevant disorders. Under certain circumstances, horses with moderate to severe structural disease, with persistent untreated atrial fibrillation and with certain ventricular arrhythmias might still be used by informed adult riders. Horses with complex ventricular arrhythmias, pulmonary hypertension or congestive heart failure must not be ridden or driven and should be retired.

Echocardiographic reference intervals for end-diastolic and end-systolic left ventricle volumes obtained by Simpson’s method of discs in healthy show jumping and polo Argentine saddle horse

“…In horses, transthoracic echocardiography is useful evaluating cardiovascular diseases linked to exercise training programs, mainly because through echocardiography the cardiac output and ejection fraction can be calculated non-invasively (Schwarzwald 2016). Thus, numerous studies have been published reporting, the cardiac volumes (VÖRÖS et al 1990;Stadler et al 1994), the cardiac output (Stadler et al 1994;Giguère et al 2005;Mcconachie et al 2013), and cardiac mass using the M-mode with the traditional Teichholz formula (Young 1999;Young et al 2002;Buhl et al 2004).…”

“…Echocardiography has been widely used as a reliable tool in the diagnosis of congenital and acquired heart diseases in equine medicine (Lightowler et al 2004;Schwarzwald 2016). Indeed, the number of clinical situations wherever echocardiography is indicated in equines has progressively increased in the last decade (Sandersen et al 2006).…”

The position of ground electrode affects electrocardiographic parameters in horses

“…Exercise training has a majority effect on cardiovascular function, especially in horses with heart diseases, including atrioventricular insufficiency, ventricular septal defects, atrial fibrillation, and also supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias [ 1 , 2 ]. Some of these abnormal rhythms can be detected by electrocardiographic (ECG) recordings.…”