Cardiology

A study examines how these drugs compare in managing dogs with congestive heart failure.

This session will deal with case examples where blood pressure measurement is indicated.

Blood pressure measurement is often not a routine part of small animal practice.

Lawndale, Calif. - Treating heart disease in companion animals is an ever-evolving science. And, especially for the aging U.S. pet population, the risks for heart disease increase.

Lakewood, Colo. - A new online registry gives breeders and pet owners a new tool to determine whether their dogs and cats are free of congenital and adult-onset heart disease.

The electrocardiogram (ECG) is a record of the average electrical potential generated in the heart muscle at the body's surface.

Blood pressure is determined by total peripheral resistance (vascular tone) and cardiac output.

Differentiating between congestive heart failure and respiratory disease as the cause of acute dyspnea in dogs and cats is one of the most difficult case scenarios facing veterinary clinicians.

Congenital heart diseases are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in pediatric veterinary patients. The incidence of such defects is listed below.

In veterinary medicine pharmacologic treatment to control or convert arrhythmias is the most common method employed.

Early descriptions of heart failure focused on the syndrome of congestion, an excess of the wet or melancholic humors, "dropsy," or "backward" failure.

Syncope is the sudden temporary loss of consciousness that is associated with loss of postural tone as a result of an abrupt decrease in cerebral perfusion or decreased delivery of essential nutrients (i.e. glucose) to the brain.

Cardiomyopathy in dogs encompasses a wide spectrum of diseases, ranging from systolic and diastolic dysfunction to various arrhythmias.

The utility of Holter recording lies in the ability to continuously examine the heart rate and rhythm over 24 to 48 hours.

Baton Rouge - 11/14/07 - The first-time procedure for professors in the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine (LSU) has saved the life of a colleague's German Shepherd that had been suffering from congestive heart failure.

Editors' note: This article is an updated excerpt from "Pimobendan: Understanding its cardiac effects in dogs with myocardial disease," which appeared in Veterinary Medicine's October 2006 issue.

Do you recommend year-round preventives to help control parasitic disease and increase client compliance?

The risk of a dog's being infected with heartworm disease each year is 250,000 out of 50,000,000; this translates to one in 200 dogs becoming infected each year.

Heartworm disease manifests quite differently in cats than in dogs and has an altered infective cycle.

Infections occur infrequently, but can be months after the implantation, from hematogenous spread.

Most veterinary hospitals recommend geriatric pets receive once (or twice) yearly evaluations including an examination and blood testing. According to Dr. Bonnie Lefbom of Chesapeake Veterinary Cardiology Associates in Vienna, Va. that evaluation should also include a blood pressure measurement.

Pericardial effusion presents clinicians with a challenge when diagnosing the underlying cause, since the prognosis can be favorable in certain cases. Partial pericardectomy can be performed via thoracoscopy; and in select cases, this minimally invasive procedure can provide long-term relief of clinical signs.

Pimobendan, a benzimidazole-pyridazinone drug, is classified as an inodilator because of its nonsympathomimetic, nonglycoside positive inotropic (through myocardial calcium sensitization) and vasodilator properties.

GAINESVILLE, FLA. - 9/12/2006 - A University of Florida study aimed at discovering better ways to place pacemakers in dogs with complete heart block has received a $100,000 boost through a grant from the Morris Animal Foundation.

Dr. Bonnie K. Lefbom at the 2005 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum in Baltimore gave a lecture on sildenafil and novel cardiovascular therapies.