Avaliação ecocardiográfica em Chelonoidis carbonaria não sedados

Abstract

The Tortoise (Chelonoidis carbonaria) is among the wild species of domestic life with casuistry of clinical and surgical care. Cardiological data such as size of cardiac chambers, morphology of valves and cardiac blood flow in these animals are poorly understood. Among the means of assessing cardiac function, the echocardiogram is a method that can be used in wild fauna, extrapolating its applicability to the small animal clinic for better monitoring and preservation. Thus, this study aims at the echocardiographic evaluation in B-mode, M-mode, color Doppler and pulsed Doppler in non-sedated Chelonoidis carbonaria. A total of 10 specimens were evaluated by echocardiography, aiming to obtain physiological data on the size of the cardiac chambers, ventricular volume in systole and diastole, ejection fraction, flow velocity in the valves, cardiac output and the thickness of the ventricular walls. A 3-chamber heart was observed: 2 thin-walled atria and 1 partially septate ventricle with a thicker wall and a trabecular appearance. The means of the quantitative data were: HR: 28 bpm ± 6; Ventricular volume in systole: 2.4 ml ± 1.8; Ventricular volume in diastole: 6ml ± 2.6; Ejection fraction (EF%): 58 ± 18; Ventricular wall thickness: 1.22cm ± 0.36; Atrioventricular flow velocity: 56.8cm/s ± 18.7; Aortic flow velocity: 75.9cm/s ± 31.9; Cardiac output: 101.9ml/min ± 66.5. It was concluded that the echocardiographic examination in B-mode, M-mode, color Doppler and pulsed Doppler is an appropriate tool for cardiac evaluation in C. carbonaria and the cervico-brachial window allowed the morphological visualization of the heart in addition to obtaining quantitative and hemodynamic data from heart