Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
QT interval is longer in dogs with heart failure on ECG
By Koyama, Hidekazu et al.·Published in The Journal of veterinary medical science·2004·Department of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Japan·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Evaluation of QT interval prolongation in dogs with heart failure.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study found that dogs with heart failure had longer QT intervals on their ECGs compared to healthy dogs, indicating a potential heart issue. The researchers noted that as heart failure progressed, the heart rate increased, and the QT interval also lengthened. They discovered that one method of measuring the QT interval (QTc2) was less affected by heart rate and could be a better indicator of heart failure severity in dogs. This suggests that monitoring the QTc2 could help veterinarians assess how serious a dog's heart condition is.
People also search for: dog heart failure symptoms · dog ECG results explained · how to treat dog heart problems
Abstract
Comparison of the QT interval and corrected QT interval values that were calculated by the methods of Bazett (QTc1) and Fridericia (QTc2) were made between dogs with or without cardiac diseases to determine the influence of the QT interval on canine heart failure. Upon comparison of the measured values on ECG between the cardiac disease and non-cardiac disease groups, it was observed that the heart rate(HR) was significantly higher in the cardiac disease group than in the non-cardiac disease group, although the QT interval was similar in the two groups. The QTc1 and QTc2 were significantly longer in the cardiac disease group than in the non-cardiac disease group. With the progression of the New York Heart Association Class, the HR tended to increase. The QTc1 and QTc2 became significantly prolonged with the progression of heart failure. Nevertheless, because Bazett's correction formula is known to overcorrect when the HR is high, it was considered that the QTc1 was actually overcorrected by high HR with the progression of heart failure. The QTc2, on the other hand, was only slightly influenced by HR, suggesting that the prolongation was due to the progression of heart failure. These results suggest that the prolongation of QTc2 in cardiac disease reflects the substantial prolongation of the QT interval without the influence of HR. It is suggested that the QTc2 could be a useful parameter for assessing the degree of heart failure in dogs with cardiac disease.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15472475/