Aortic regurgitation: Is decision-making as easy as diagnosis?

Diastolic murmurs are common in the horse, especially in the old horse population where they most commonly represent aortic valve regurgitation (AR) as a result of degenerative aortic valve disease (endocardiosis). Their characteristic decrescendo diastolic timing, often with a musical tone, makes a diagnosis of AR a simple task in most cases. Sometimes murmurs of AR can be heard louder on the right hand side than the left, reflecting the direction of blood flow as it passes into the left ventricle and no significance should be attributed to this, but is a useful reminder that the aortic valve sits centrally within the heart ...