Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Doberman heart timing problems linked to dilated cardiomyopathy
By López-Alvarez, Jordi et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary cardiology : the official journal of the European Society of Veterinary Cardiology·2011·Small Animal Teaching Hospital, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Assessment of mechanical ventricular synchrony in Doberman Pinschers with dilated cardiomyopathy.
Plain-English summary
A group of Doberman Pinschers was evaluated for heart problems, specifically dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), which can affect how well the heart pumps blood. The study looked at 35 dogs and measured the timing of heart contractions to see if there were any issues with how the heart was working together. Surprisingly, they found that there wasn't a significant difference in how well the heart was synchronized among dogs with DCM compared to healthy ones. This suggests that the timing of heart contractions may not be a major factor in the progression of DCM in these dogs.
People also search for: Doberman Pinscher heart problems · dilated cardiomyopathy in dogs · dog heart disease symptoms
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Loss of temporal synchrony of myocardial contraction has been shown to reduce systolic function and be responsible for disease progression in people. The objective of this study is the assessment of inter- and intra ventricular synchrony in healthy Doberman Pinschers and those with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) by use of conventional Doppler and tissue velocity imaging. ANIMALS: A total of 60 scans from 35 client-owned Doberman Pinschers presented for cardiac evaluation were analysed. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of data. Using the European Society of Veterinary Cardiology DCM taskforce scoring system, Doberman Pinschers were classified into 4 groups: Control (Group 1; n=12), depressed systolic function other than DCM (Group 2; n=9), preclinical DCM (Group 3; n=8) and symptomatic DCM (Group 4; n=6). The time intervals between the beginning of the QRS complex and the peak velocity of pulmonic flow (Q-P) and the peak aortic flow (Q-Ao) were used to assess global synchrony between both ventricles. The time intervals between the beginning of the QRS complex and the peak myocardial systolic velocity (Q-peak S) and the onset of myocardial systolic velocity (Q-start S) were measured at the base of the right and left ventricular free wall (RVFW and LVFW) and interventricular septum (IVS), and used to determine segmental longitudinal inter- and intra ventricular synchrony. RESULTS: No significant loss of global or segmental longitudinal inter- or intra ventricular synchrony was identified between the groups. CONCLUSION: Impairment of longitudinal fibre synchrony does not appear to be significantly associated with clinical status of DCM in Doberman Pinschers, although it was identified in certain individuals.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21843980/