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Identification and history

Name: horse, Arabian, male, 1 year old.

Report and medical history: Grade IV holosystolic murmur audible on both side of the chest, radiating ventrally and cranially on the right side.

Diagnostics

Right parasternal long axis view of the left ventricular outflow tract and aorta (A) and right parasternal short axis view at the level of the aortic valve (B): show a defect of the membranous portion of the interventricular septum located between the right coronary cusp of the aorta and the septal leaflet of the tricuspid valve. The maximum diameter of the defect, measured in the two mutually perpendicular planes, is 2.47 cm x 1.41 cm.

This image shows the systolic flow shunt from the left to the right ventricle by means of Color flow Doppler. The maximum velocity of the left-right transventricular flow measured by continuous Doppler is 4.82 m/s.

Images were acquired with the MyLab^&reade;5VET system.

Conclusions and treatment:

Equine Medicine Unit, University of Milan, University Veterinary Hospital of Lodi.

Membranous ventricular septal defect at the level of the right coronary cusp of the aortic valve.
This is a congenital heart defect disease. Given the localization in the membranous portion, the dimension below 2,5 cm in both orthogonal planes and the shunt velocity greater than 4m/s, the prognosis is good and the horse can have a successful athletic career.

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