M-mode echocardiographs of endurance horses in the recovery phase of long-distance competition.
M-mode echocardiographic structures, and cardiac function indices, PCV, and total plasma protein values were determined for 34 endurance equine athletes before (base line) and after (after race) a 161-km endurance competition and were compared. The PCV (base-line mean, 37%; after-race mean, 46%) and total plasma protein value (base-line mean, 6.9 g/dl; after-race mean, 7.5 g/dl) increased. Compared with base-line echocardiography, after-race echocardiography indicated an increase in heart rate, as determined from the simultaneous ECG recorded on the echocardiograph (base-line mean, 41 beats/min; after-race mean, 54 beats/min), and an increase in interventricular septal diastolic thickness (base-line mean, 28 mm; after-race mean, 33 mm). The septal thickening fraction (base-line mean, 59%; after-race mean, 38%), the left atrioventricular valve E to F slope (base-line mean, 224 mm/s; after-race mean, 175 mm/s), the left ventricular diastolic dimension (base-line mean, 99 mm; after-race mean, 86 mm), the fractional shortening of the left ventricle (base-line mean, 41%; after-race mean, 37%), the aortic root dimension (base-line mean, 63 mm; after-race mean, 58 mm), the caudal aortic wall excursion (base-line mean, 19 mm; after-race mean, 11 mm) and the left atrial diastolic dimension (base-line mean, 46 mm; after-race mean, 39 mm), decreased significantly (P less than 0.05). In base-line echocardiographs, late diastolic left atrioventricular valve motion was evident in 9 horses. The aberrant left atrioventricular valve motion was not evident in after-race echocardiographs. Seemingly, central vascular volume decreased in these horses during the recovery phase of severe strenuous endurance competition.