Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dobutamine stress test checks heart pumping in dogs with mitral valve
By Suzuki, R et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2014·Department of Veterinary Science, Japan·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Dobutamine stress echocardiography for assessment of systolic function in dogs with experimentally induced mitral regurgitation.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of anesthetized dogs with heart problems caused by mitral regurgitation (a leaky heart valve) were tested to see how well their hearts were functioning. Researchers used a medication called dobutamine to stress the heart and measured how well it was pumping. They found that after six months, the dogs showed decreased heart function compared to before the heart issue developed. This suggests that dobutamine could be a helpful tool for veterinarians to assess heart function in dogs with similar conditions.
People also search for: dog heart problems mitral regurgitation · dobutamine for dog heart function · signs of heart disease in dogs
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Systolic dysfunction is associated with poor outcomes in dogs with myxomatous mitral valve disease. However, assessment of systolic variables by conventional echocardiographic methods is difficult in these dogs because of mitral regurgitation (MR). HYPOTHESIS: We hypothesized that assessment of systolic function by dobutamine stress may identify systolic dysfunction in dogs with MR, and that 2-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography (2D-STE) could quantitatively evaluate myocardial function. ANIMALS: Anesthetized dogs with experimentally induced MR. METHODS: Dogs were examined for systolic myocardial deformations using 2D-STE during dobutamine infusion before and 3 and 6 months after MR induction. We evaluated peak systolic rotation and rotation rate in each basal and apical view; peak systolic torsion and torsion rate were also calculated. RESULTS: Invasive peak positive first derivatives of left ventricular pressure (dp/dt) were significantly decreased in dogs 6 months after induction of MR compared with pre-MR results. After 3 and 6 months of MR, dogs had diminished peak systolic torsion values and torsion rates in response to dobutamine infusion compared with pre-MR results (3 months, P < .001 and P = .006; 6 months, P = .003 and P = .021). These results were significantly correlated with overall invasive dp/dt (r = 0.644, P < .001; r = 0.696, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Decreased torsion during dobutamine infusion in dogs with MR may reflect latent systolic dysfunction. Dobutamine infusion, therefore, may be useful for the assessment of systolic function in dogs with MR.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24433339/