Usefulness of focused cardiac ultrasonography for predicting fluid responsiveness in conscious, spontaneously breathing dogs

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of focused cardiac ultrasonography and selected echocardiographic variables for predicting fluid responsiveness in conscious, spontaneously breathing dogs with various clinical conditions. ANIMALS 26 dogs (15 males and 11 females) with a median age of 84 months (range, 12 to 360 months) and median body weight of 8 kg (range, 2 to 35 kg) referred for various clinical conditions. PROCEDURES Left ventricular end-diastolic internal diameter normalized to body weight (LVIDDn), left ventricular volume score (LVVS), left ventricular end-diastolic volume index (EDVI), aortic velocity time integral (VTIAo), and aortic peak flow velocity (VmaxAo) were echocardiographically measured before and after IV administration of a bolus of lactated Ringer solution (4 mL/kg) over a 1-minute period. Dogs were classified on the basis of the observed change in aortic stroke volume following fluid administration as responders (≥ 15%) or nonresponders (< 15%) to fluid administration....