Echocardiographic assessments of longitudinal left ventricular function in healthy English springer spaniels

OBJECTIVES: To establish reference intervals for echocardiographic measures of longitudinal left ventricular function in adult English springer spaniel dogs. ANIMALS: Forty-two healthy adult English springer spaniels. METHODS: Animals were prospectively recruited from a general practice population in the United Kingdom. Dogs were examined twice, at least 12 months apart, to exclude dogs with progressive cardiac disease. Mitral annular plane systolic excursion, tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) mitral annular velocities and two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiographic (2DSTE) left ventricular longitudinal strain and strain rate were measured. Intraoperator and intraobserver variability were examined and reference intervals were calculated. The potential effects of body weight, age and heart rate on these variables were examined. RESULTS: Intraoperator and intraobserver variability was <10% for all parameters except TDI E’ and 2DSTE variables, which were all