Echocardiographic variables in healthy North American Salukis.

INTRODUCTION: To report normal echocardiographic variables from a population of healthy Salukis in North America.

ANIMALS: The study included 83 healthy adult Salukis from North America with structurally normal hearts.

METHODS: All animals underwent a full physical examination and two-dimensional, M-mode, and Doppler echocardiography using the right parasternal and left apical views with the left ventricular volumes calculated using the Simpson's method of discs. Echocardiographic variables were compared among sex, body surface area, and body weight (BW) using linear regression. The 95% predictive intervals were calculated for both unadjusted and BW-adjusted data.

RESULTS: No relationship between sex and the echocardiographic variables was noted. Predictive intervals for echocardiographic variables are presented for 22 echocardiographic variables. Linear regression suggested that 16 of those variables were associated with BW. The 95% predictive intervals of echocardiographic variables adjusted for BW are reported.

CONCLUSIONS: The data from this study provide breed-specific echocardiographic reference values for Salukis.