Equine Cardiology

Cardiac scanning for equine application requires a deep penetration system with a large viewing area. In ultrasound terms the equine heart is a huge organ to scan. Fortunately the acoustic properties of the equine heart are to our advantage. The heart rate is slow, allowing a slower frame rate scan than other diagnosis; the organ's structures are very large and thus easily defined by the ultrasound beam. The large area required to scan the heart is also attainable because it is full of blood, ultrasound passes through fluids far easier than tissue and thus the ultrasound beam has sufficient power to travel large distances through blood.

The ultrasound system should ideally be able to scan to a depth of 30cm, with a viewing angle of 90 degrees, in order that the whole organ can be diagnosed. This would normally require a mechanical sector or phased array probe operating over the frequency range of 1.5-3.0MHz

Other features should include cine-loop memory, which provides a freeze frame of every image for the last few seconds, allowing the whole heart cycle to be examined in detail. M-mode and spectral Doppler will allow viewing and measurements as necessary to provide a thorough cardiac diagnosis. Colour flow mapping and continuous wave Doppler will help in a total cardiac examination.