Km. Meurs et al., Use of ambulatory electrocardiography for detection of ventricular premature complexes in healthy dogs, J AM VET ME, 218(8), 2001, pp. 1291
Citations number
12
Categorie Soggetti
Veterinary Medicine/Animal Health
Journal title
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
Objective-To evaluate the use of 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiography (AE
CG) for the detection of ventricular premature complexes (VPC) in healthy d
ogs.
Design-Case series. Animals-50 healthy mature dogs.
Procedure-A 24-hour AECG was performed on each dog and evaluated for the pr
esence of VPC.
Results-Fifty dogs weighing between 18.2 to 40.9 kg (40 and 90 lb) represen
ting 13 breeds were evaluated, there were 4 sexually intact females, 21 spa
yed females, 4 sexually intact males, and 21 castrated males. Ages ranged f
rom 1 to 12 years. Thirty-four dogs had no VPC; 16 dogs had between 1 and 2
4 VPC, The grade of arrhythmia ranged from 1 to 4, with 4 dogs having an ar
rhythmia with a grade a 1. Significant differences were not detected betwee
n the group of dogs with VPC and those without VPC with regard to sex, age,
and minimum, maximum, or mean heart rate.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance-We conclude that healthy mature dogs hav
e infrequent VPC, as detected by use of 24-hour AECG. The presence of numer
ous or sequential VPC may be suggestive of cardiac or systemic disease and
may indicate the need for thorough clinical evaluation.