Diagnosis of Equine Heart Disease

A helpful veterinary tool to diagnose equine heart disease involves a blood test to determine the level of cardiac troponin I (cTnI). Testing for this substance has been used in human medicine to evaluate damage to the heart muscle, but until recently, no one knew whether analyzing equine blood with the same analyzer used in humans would reveal anything helpful about horses with cardiac problems.

Various studies have shown that cTnI levels do not rise in horses with chronic intermittent rhabdomyolysis (tying-up); are elevated in horses suffering from monensin toxicity, oxygen deprivation, systemic inflammation, and severe colic (where the highest levels correspond to horses with the least positive prognosis after surgery); and also rise in horses with inflammation of the heart muscle. Veterinarians might gain insight into diagnoses by considering cTnI levels, and could also monitor changes in the level as treatment progresses.