Prevalence of valvular regurgitation in normal beagle dogs detected by color Doppler echocardiography.

Abstract

We examined the prevalence and characteristics of valvular regurgitation in 20 normal beagle dogs with no cardiac murmur by color Doppler echocardiography. The prevalence of pulmonary, mitral, aortic and tricuspid valvular regurgitation was 75%, 15%, 10%, and 0%, respectively. The peak flow velocity of pulmonary, mitral and aortic regurgitation was 57.1 +/- 18.5 cm/sec (mean +/- SD), 89.8 cm/sec (mean) and 96.5 cm/sec, respectively. The peak velocity of regurgitant flow was considered characteristically low, as the calculated pressure gradient derived from the modified Bernoulli equation (pressure gradient = 4 x velocity) was not as high as the normal pressure gradient existing across each valve. We consider that, in the evaluation of the characteristics of regurgitation in dogs, regurgitant signals having low peak velocity can be regarded as being physiological or trivial regurgitation.