CARDIOLOGY
How Good Are You at Predicting
OUTCOMES FROM THE CARDIAC PREPURCHASE EXAM?
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A thorough prepurchase cardiac examination
provides a unique opportunity to identify at-risk horses prior to competition. If found, the cardiac disease is likely to be mild, but performance-limiting and life-threatening conditions can be present in seemingly normal horses. Fe ter Woort, DVM, DVSc, DACVIM, (LAIM), and colleagues recently completed a study to identify the most and least common cardiac findings on prepurchase examinations, and gauged how accurate cardiac prognoses are in predicting athletic outcomes. “Over the years, we’ve found some really spectacular cardiac disease in horses that looked healthy on the outside,” Dr. ter Woort said here at the 65th Annual AAEP Convention in Denver.
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Issue 5/2020 | ModernEquineVet.com
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The Horses
The retrospective study included 174 horses from her Equine Sports Medicine Practice in Belgium, as well as horses treated at the New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Penn. Show jumpers, eventers, show hunters and dressage horses were represented, among others. Horses that had undergone complete cardiac examination with echocardiography (ECG) as part of a prepurchase exam or within 4 weeks of purchase were included. Outcomes were assessed by an owner interview conducted by phone call or email. “I also used FEI [International Federation for Equestrian Sports] data,” she said. “For those who are not familiar with that data, it’s like Facebook stalking for horses. You enter the name and you can see
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