Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Ventricular tachyarrhythmias linked to heart disorders in 106 cats
By Côté, E & Jaeger, R·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2008·Angell Animal Medical Center, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Ventricular tachyarrhythmias in 106 cats: associated structural cardiac disorders.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 106 cats with heart problems was found to have serious irregular heartbeats called ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Most of these cats also had noticeable heart issues, like thickening of the heart muscle or other types of heart disease. This study highlighted that cats with these arrhythmias are more likely to have visible heart abnormalities compared to dogs with similar issues. Understanding these connections can help veterinarians provide better care for cats with heart conditions.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Ventricular tachyarrhythmias occur in association with cardiac and extracardiac disorders in many species of animals, but information identifying concurrent disorders in cats with such arrhythmias is scarce. METHODS: We investigated coexisting diseases by retrospectively evaluating medical records of cats with ventricular tachyarrhythmias seen during a 51-month period at 1 institution. For comparative purposes, we evaluated records of dogs with similar arrhythmias during the same time period. All cats and dogs had premature ventricular complexes, accelerated idioventricular rhythm, ventricular tachycardia, or some combination of these arrhythmias, and all had undergone echocardiography during the same visit that led to the diagnosis of ventricular tachyarrhythmia. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Most (102/106; 96%) cats had at least 1 echocardiographically apparent abnormality concurrent with ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Ventricular tachyarrhythmias in cats were most commonly associated with myocardial disease (eg, left ventricular concentric hypertrophy [n = 66], restrictive or unclassified cardiomyopathy [n = 17], and dilated cardiomyopathy [n = 6]). When comparing dogs and cats that had ventricular tachyarrhythmias and were diagnosed on the same clinical service of the same institution, an echocardiographically apparent cardiac lesion was seen more often in cats (102/106, 96%) than in dogs (95/138, 69%) (P < .001).
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19000254/