Evaluation of the Audicor Acoustic Cardiography Device as a Diagnostic Tool in Horses with Mitral or Aortic Valve Insufficiency.
Authors: Piotrowski Isabelle L, Junge Hannah K, Schwarzwald Colin C
Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Summary
# Editorial Summary: Acoustic Cardiography for Equine Valve Disease Mitral and aortic valve insufficiencies are frequently encountered in equine practice, yet non-invasive diagnostic options remain limited. Researchers evaluated whether acoustic cardiography (Audicor®)—a device that analyses heart sounds and generates phonocardiograms—could identify these valvular lesions by comparing 17 healthy horses against 18 with aortic insufficiency and 28 with mitral insufficiency, all assessed via both echocardiography and Audicor® analysis. Disappointingly, the device failed to visualise murmurs on phonocardiographic tracings and demonstrated no significant differences in measured variables (electromechanical activation time, left ventricular systolic time, or third and fourth heart sound characteristics) between healthy animals and those with valvular disease. These findings suggest that Audicor® cannot reliably detect valve insufficiency in horses without clinical heart failure, and practitioners should not consider it a substitute for echocardiographic evaluation when valvular pathology is suspected. Until acoustic cardiography technology is specifically refined for equine cardiology, echocardiography remains the gold standard for diagnosing subclinical valve disease and quantifying haemodynamic consequences in pre-purchase examinations and performance horses.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Audicor acoustic cardiography should not be relied upon for screening or diagnosing mitral or aortic valve insufficiency in horses; echocardiography remains the gold standard diagnostic tool.
- •The absence of detectable murmurs on Audicor does not rule out clinically significant valve disease in asymptomatic horses.
- •This device has limited practical application in equine cardiac assessment for valvular pathology in non-heart failure cases.
Key Findings
- •Audicor acoustic cardiography device failed to detect heart murmurs on phonocardiograms in any of the 63 horses studied.
- •No significant differences in Audicor variables (EMAT, LVST, S3, S4) were found between 17 healthy horses and 46 horses with valvular insufficiency.
- •Poor association was demonstrated between Audicor snapshot variables and corresponding echocardiographic variables in horses with valve insufficiency not in heart failure.
- •Audicor device demonstrated limited diagnostic utility for detecting mitral or aortic valve insufficiency in clinically stable horses.