NJ Veterinarian Performs Echocardiogram On a Jaguar

Check out Dr. Eric DeRose, our Veterinary Cardiologist and a couple NorthStar VETS technicians: Jesse and Marisa assist him as he performs an Echocardiogram on “Rosa,” a Jaguar.

Echocardiography is used to diagnose cardiovascular diseases. It is one of the most widely used diagnostic tests for heart disease and can provide a wealth of helpful information, including the size and shape of the heart, its pumping capacity and the location and extent of any damage to its tissues. It is especially useful for assessing diseases of the heart valves. It not only allows Dr. DeRose to evaluate the heart valves, but it can detect abnormalities in the pattern of blood flow, such as the backward flow of blood through partly closed heart valves, known as regurgitation. Echocardiography also helps determine whether any symptoms are related to heart disease. Echocardiography can also help detect any cardiomyopathy, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, as well as others. The biggest advantage to echocardiography is that it is noninvasive (doesn’t involve breaking the skin or entering body cavities) and has no known risks or side effects.