Sick sinus syndrome is a clinical term used to describe flee clinical signs
of sinus node dysfunction. This paper describes the clinical data from nin
e West Highland white terriers, eight females and one male, in which a diag
nosis of sick sinus syndrome was made. The most common clinical signs were
episodic weakness and presyncope. Electrocardiographic findings included si
nus bradycardia, sinus arrest with or without escape complexes, disturbance
s of atrioventricular conduction, paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia,
or some combination of these dysrhythmias. The main radiographic changes we
re mild right-sided cardiomegaly in five cases, and a slight increase in br
onchial and interstitial markings in four, but there was no evidence of con
gestive heart failure in any of the dogs. Echocardiography revealed mild to
moderate mitral endocardiosis in three cases with no other significant abn
ormalities. The dogs' responses to parenteral atropine were variable and we
re not necessarily related to their response to oral anticholinergic agents
. Five of the dogs were initially treated with propantheline bromide, but i
n only two of them were the clinical signs controlled in the long term. Six
of the dogs were successfully treated by the implantation of a transvenous
pacemaker.