Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with third-degree heart block and fast abnormal heart rhythm
By Lawson, P B & Abbott, J A·Published in Journal of veterinary cardiology : the official journal of the European Society of Veterinary Cardiology·2021·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Idioventricular tachycardia and unstable ventricular escape rhythm in a canine patient with third-degree atrioventricular block.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 10-year-old female Labrador retriever was brought in after experiencing fainting spells (syncope). The vet found that the dog's heart was beating too fast (idioventricular tachycardia), and there were issues with the heart's electrical signals (third-degree atrioventricular block). Although the dog had elevated levels of a heart protein (troponin-I), which suggested possible heart inflammation (myocarditis), this was not confirmed. The dog's condition was serious, but the exact treatment plan was not detailed in the study.
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Abstract
A 10-year-old female Labrador retriever was presented for evaluation and management of syncope. On presentation, idioventricular tachycardia (IT) was electrocardiographically evident but neither ventricular capture nor fusion complexes were recorded. Spontaneous termination of the IT resulted in prolonged ventricular asystole and revealed the underlying rhythm of third-degree atrioventricular block. The serum concentration of troponin-I was elevated, suggesting myocarditis, but this was not diagnostically confirmed. It is likely that overdrive suppression of subsidiary idioventricular pacemakers, and perhaps also disease of subsidiary ventricular pacemaker fibers, importantly contributed to the duration of asystole.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34304107/