Cardiology

Was this dog's tooth root abscess the cause of its severe, progressive systemic illness?

Can this screening test help identify this silent killer in cats?

Studies have been performed in humans to determine if early administration of ACE inhibitors to human patients with ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy decreases the progression of myocardial failure and so reduces mortality.

There currently is no evidence that any drug alters the natural history of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in cats until they are in heart failure.

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a cardiac disease due to an inherent abnormality in the myocardium that results in a decrease in myocardial contractility (i.e., myocardial failure) and is not secondary to another primary disease.

In humans, the familial nature of HCM was first reported in 1958. It has been demonstrated that over 70% of human cases of HCM are inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern, with most other cases being sporadic (although often still genetic in origin).

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a primary myocardial disease that primarily affects left ventricular (LV) myocardium and is characterized by mild to severe thickening (concentric hypertrophy) of the LV wall (septum and/or free wall) and papillary muscles.

Small animal patients with cardiac disease and/or congenital abnormalities can be challenging and sometimes intimidating patients.

The gold standard for determining arterial blood gas levels is actually measuring arterial blood samples with a blood gas machine to get information on the arterial oxygen partial pressure (PaO2), pH and carbon dioxide partial pressure (PaCO2).

The biomarker can help assess patients with cardiac and respiratory disease.

Don't wait until it becomes a more serious problem. Start educating your clients about heart disease today.

Dr. Jennifer Garcia helps ensure you're measuring blood pressure correctly in your patients.

Understanding this syndrome's pathophysiology and classification schemes will help you better manage affected patients.

Once a death sentence, canine pulmonary hypertension no longer carries such a grave prognosis.

About 70 percent of dogs affected by mitral valve disease do not develop heart failure or die as a result.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a morphologic defect of the heart or great vessels which is present at birth. "Congenital" does not imply the defect was inherited, although many CHD are heritable. CHD may also be caused by de novo spontaneous mutations, which have the potential to be transmitted to progeny. Diagnosis of CHD is important for the health of the patient and also to eliminate affected individuals from the breeding pool.

The primary indication for obtaining an electrocardiogram (ECG) is to evaluate an arrhythmia. Patients with a history of syncope, episodic weakness, or collapse should be evaluated with an ECG. An ECG is an insensitive test for assessment of specific cardiac chamber enlargement, and interpretation of structural heart disease is best done using radiography and echocardiography.

Collapse and shock are a clinical manifestation of many different severe diseases, and requires emergency triage and care. Other dogs may present with a history of episodes of collapse and may be clinically stable on presentation. These two categories of patients are treated very differently, but they have some similar differential diagnoses.

Pericardial effusion is a fairly common acquired heart disease in dogs, and prevalence has been reported to be 0.43% (or 1 dog per 233 cases) of dogs presenting to a referral veterinary hospital, and accounts for approximately 7% of dogs with clinical signs of cardiac disease.1

Cats presenting with pleural effusion are nearly always in respiratory distress, ranging from an increased respiratory rate and effort to open mouth breathing. In the latter situations, therapeutic intervention must be initiated quickly to prevent respiratory arrest. The therapeutic intervention also provides your first diagnostic test.

Thrombophilia (hypercoagulability or prothrombotic state) is a complex disorder with a diverse and multifactorial pathogenesis that results in a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. It is well-recognized as a frequent and serious cause of morbidity and mortality in people. It appears less prevalent in dogs and cats for several reasons.

A new study performed at Auburn University's College of Veterinary Medicine is radically changing our understanding of how heartworms affect the cat. In this study three groups of cats were studied for 8 and 16 months with antibody and antigen tests, radiographs of the heart and lungs, and necropsy examinations of the heart and lungs.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is defined by a systolic pulmonary artery pressure greater than 25 mmHg. The incidence of PH is difficult to define due to lack of clinical awareness, non-specific clinical signs, and difficulty in confirming the diagnosis.

Respiratory abnormalities are relatively common in cats, who may suffer from a wide range of disease processes. An initial triage step in the management of a dyspnic cat is to determine whether the dyspnea is cardiogenic or due to extracardiac (primary pulmonary) disease. This task is in no way a simple one, as cats often have non-specific history and physical examination abnormalities.

Tricks to handle the adverse effects: never with- hold water, always have water available or there will be much more significant dehydration and azotemia.

Echocardiography has emerged as the most valuable non-invasive tool for evaluation of cardiac structure, function, blood flow patterns, and has greatly diminished the need for diagnostic cardiac catheterizations and angiocardiography in many cases. Echocardiography is one tool for evaluation of the cardiac patient, but should be used in conjunction with other diagnostic tests including thoracic radiography and electrocardiography for a global assessment of the patient.

Although there are highly sophisticated and advanced diagnostic modalities in cardiology, the basic technique of a good cardiovascular examination is still an essential fundamental element of the cardiovascular workup. Other basic diagnostic modalities that are readily available in most practices include thoracic radiographs, electrocardiography, and blood pressure measurement.

This online on-demand archived Webinar will highlight the importance of differentiating between heart disease and heart failure and will discuss the impact on diagnosis, therapy and monitoring your feline patients. (1 CE credit)

This online on-demand archived Webinar will introduce you to a classification scheme for heart disease and heart failure and will discuss the clinical significance of signalment, history and common cardiac diagnostic tests to appropriately stage dogs and cats with heart disease. (1 CE credit)

What is the aim of this heart disease treatment?