Reproducible echocardiography in juvenile sheep and its application in theevaluation of a pulmonary valve homogaft implant

Increased use of the ovine animal model in cardiovascular surgical research has created a salient need for standardized echocardiography techniques. T o demonstrate a reproducible image in this species and confirm the validity of echocardiography as a diagnostic tool, we implanted 10 sheep with a pul monary valve homograft and monitored them through weekly echocardiographic examinations until 20 weeks after implantation. We obtained good images fro m the left cranial and the left caudal transducer windows without needing t o sedate the animals, Sedated sheep yielded adequate views from the right a pical window. Echocardiographic data on the implanted homografts (including functional capacity presence of calcification, and hemodynamic information and measurements), completely agreed with the results of the post-explanta tion examinations.