Endometrial area of the blood flow as a marker of endometritis in equine.

ABSTRACT

In this study, uterine blood flow area (BFA) has been evaluated for the first time using power Doppler ultrasound (PD) as a marker of endometritis in mares and jennies. The uterine BFA in healthy mares was greater in oestrus than in diestrus (p < .001). However, differences in endometrial blood flow between oestrus and diestrus were not observed in mares with endometritis. The uterine blood flow in healthy jennies is not affected by the oestrus cycle. Both species showed an increase in endometrial BFA in pathological uterine conditions compared to controls. BFA was a good marker of endometritis with an area under curve (AUC) (estrus0.94 (p < .001) diestrus0.98 (p < .001) in mares and AUC (0.91 (p < .0001) in jennies. The results of this preliminary study suggest that PD ultrasound in combination with computerized image analysis has the potential to be a very useful tool in the diagnosis of endometritis.