Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Pacemaker use in dogs with heart inflammation and survival link
By Wesselowski, S et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary cardiology : the official journal of the European Society of Veterinary Cardiology·2019·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Artificial cardiac pacemaker placement in dogs with a cohort of myocarditis suspects and association of ultrasensitive cardiac troponin I with survival.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 110 dogs with heart problems received artificial cardiac pacemakers to help manage their symptoms. Some of these dogs had elevated levels of a heart protein called troponin, which can indicate myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle). The study found that dogs with mildly to moderately elevated troponin levels lived longer on average than those with severely elevated levels, but overall survival rates were similar across the groups. While age had a bigger impact on survival than troponin levels, there was a noted risk of sudden death in dogs suspected of having myocarditis. Most dogs in the study were able to live for several years after receiving the pacemaker.
People also search for: dog heart problems treatment · artificial pacemaker for dogs · myocarditis in dogs symptoms
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Artificial cardiac pacemakers (APs) are a common treatment for symptomatic bradyarrhythmias in dogs, some of which may be triggered by underlying myocarditis. Severely elevated cardiac troponin I (cTnI) concentrations support a diagnosis of myocarditis. The association of ultrasensitive-cTnI (US-cTnI) concentration with survival in a large cohort of dogs receiving APs is not described. ANIMALS, MATERIALS, AND METHODS: The study included 110 dogs receiving APs over a 5-year period. Medical records were retrospectively reviewed to characterize the entire population receiving APs, with further analysis in dogs with preprocedural US-cTnI concentrations (n = 64) classified as normal/group 1 (n = 11), mildly to moderately elevated/group 2 (n = 27), and severely elevated/myocarditis suspects/group 3 (n = 26). RESULTS: Median survival time was 1079 days for the entire population, 1167 days for group 2, 949 days for group 3, and not met in group 1. There was not a statistically significant difference in survival between group 2 and group 3. Overall, US-cTnI had a mild, negative association with survival. Age had a stronger negative association. Infectious etiologies were identified in a minority of group 3 cases. A possible association between severely elevated US-cTnI and a sudden death outcome was noted. CONCLUSIONS: The negative association of US-cTnI with survival outcomes was mild, with age having a larger effect. Although a sudden death outcome may be seen more commonly in myocarditis suspects, group 3 survival time was similar to that of the entire canine population. Plausible infectious causes of myocarditis were infrequently identified.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30573438/