- 7 yr old, 28lb beagle mix presented for preanesthetic exam for a dermal mass removal on the forelimb and dental cleaning. The heart rate ausculted at 250-300bpm.
- 7 yr old, 28lb beagle mix presented for preanesthetic exam for a dermal mass removal on the forelimb and dental cleaning. The heart rate ausculted at 250-300bpm.
- Echocardiogram shows slightly increased left ventricular wall and left posterior wall at diastole and markedly increased at systole. Fractional shortening was increased at 55%. The left atrium measured at the high end of normal but subjectively appeared normal (see cardiac measurments below). The dog was sedated with butorphanol at 2mg/kg IV to allow for Doppler studies (she was panting excessively during the exam). Doppler studies showed no evidence of any valvular disease or insufficiencies. During the intial exam her heart rate would speed up to 250bpm. After butorphanol sedation it dropped down to 150bpm but could still be seen accelerating from time to time.
- Blood pressure measurements are pending.
- The dog behaves clinically normal at home.
- The dog’s cardiac measurments are as follows: LA=22,AO=16, LA/AO=1.3, MPA=12.7, MPA/AO=0.86, IVSd=11.7, LVIDd= 32.6,LVPWd=12.3, IVSs=20.4, LVIDs=14.8, LVPWs=16.4, FS=55%, HR=150-263 bpm (150 bpm post butorphanol administration)
- I am attaching a few pics from the EKG done by the veterinarian later that day.
I am wondering if this is sinus tachycardia (stress) or supraventricular tachycardia. It seems a bit high for sinus tachycardia, yet, the dog is asymptomatic. I guess the big question is whether or not it is ok to proceed with surgery on this dog. I am also wondering what diseases this asymptomatic middle aged beagle could have that would cause this.
Comments
do we see a couple of APCs?
do we see a couple of APCs? I agree they are mostly sinus in nature, but not entirely… and looks like P waves are mostly greater than 0.4 mV. I wonder if blood gas analysis might help just to make sure there’s no acid – base issues.
on side note, 2 weeks ago i had a young dog I neutered. All went well until the procedure was done and I was walking out of OR. this dog started having sinus arrest and first degree to third degree AV block. Started atropine 0.02 mg/kg half IV bolus and the other SQ, which did not help so I gave another 1/2 IV bolus, which caused a severe SVT >240 beats per minute. out of desperation I started vagal maneuver thank God it worked, the HR came down to 140 150 as long as the eye pressure was applied but tachycardia came back as soon as the pressure was off.. long story short in the end it worked along with the time and invreased IV rate. the HR came sown to ~~ 120 after all. the tachycardia didn’t come back on rechecks but recommended an ECHO sometime in the futrue. please let us kmow how this turns out, very interesting!
The echo doesnt bother me
The echo doesnt bother me here so likely just a rhythm issue and not a structural cardiac one.
Here is a pdf written by
Here is a pdf written by Chris Stauthammer DVM- University of Minnesota on Supraventricular tachycardia. Hard to believe the dog isn’t clinical with a heart rate of 250. You may want to have the owners monitor the pulse at home to see if this is excitement at the clinic. May even have to consider a Holter monitor.
Thx All. The owners were
Thx All. The owners were instructed to purchase a stethescope for home monitoring.
Would have been cheaper to
Would have been cheaper to teach them how to get a femoral pulse 🙂
Cheaper but less accurate,
Cheaper but less accurate, especially with heart rates exceeding 250bpm. Nursing stores sell stethescopes for $5-25.
Thanks Randy for the link to
Thanks Randy for the link to Dr. Stuathammer’s PDF.