Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with vagally triggered atrial flutter during sleep and activity
By Romito, G et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary cardiology : the official journal of the European Society of Veterinary Cardiology·2022·Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Presumptive vagally-mediated atrial flutter in a dog.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 9-year-old Dobermann Pinscher was found to have an unusual heart rhythm during a routine check for heart disease. While the dog was resting, the heart developed a condition called atrial flutter, which is when the heart beats irregularly. This condition changed back to a normal rhythm when the dog became active or excited. The veterinarians believe this heart issue was likely related to the dog's resting state. The dog did not show any symptoms and was monitored closely to understand the heart's behavior during different activities.
People also search for: dog heart flutter symptoms · Dobermann heart problems · atrial flutter treatment in dogs
Abstract
An asymptomatic nine-year-old Dobermann Pinscher underwent a screening for dilated cardiomyopathy. Echocardiography revealed left ventricular eccentric hypertrophy and systolic dysfunction; the rest of the echocardiographic parameters were within normal limits. Holter monitoring demonstrated sinus rhythm as the dominant cardiac rhythm during the first hours of the recording. Then, during a period of physiologically enhanced vagal tone (sleep), spontaneous development of atrial flutter (AFL) associated with variable ventricular response was documented. Alternation between AFL and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation was also observed. Subsequently, during a period of physiological increase of sympathetic tone (physical activity/excitement), spontaneous conversion of AFL to sinus rhythm occurred. In light of these findings, a presumptive diagnosis of vagal AFL was made. The images here described allow us to study the onset, behavior and termination of this intriguing electrocardiographic entity.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34973471/