Observed and expected reliability of echocardiographic volumetric methods and critical change values for quantification of mitral regurgitant fraction in dogs.

Background: Reliability of echocardiographic calculations for stroke volume and mitral regurgitant fraction (RF) are affected by observer variability and lack of a gold standard. Variability is used to calculate critical change values (CCVs) that are thresholds representing real change in a measure not associated with observer variability.

Hypothesis: Observed intra- and interobserver accuracy and variability in healthy dogs help model CCV for RF.

Longitudinal analysis of echocardiographic and cardiac biomarker variables in dogs with atrial fibrillation: The optimal rate control in dogs with atrial fibrillation II study.

Background: Rate control (RC; meanHR ≤ 125 bpm) increases survival in dogs with atrial fibrillation (AF). The mechanisms remain unclear.

Hypothesis/objectives: Investigate echocardiographic and biomarker differences between RC and non-RC (NRC) dogs.

Utility of focused cardiac ultrasonography training in veterinary students to differentiate stages of subclinical myxomatous mitral valve disease in dogs.

Background: Differentiation of the subclinical phases of myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) in dogs relies heavily on echocardiography. Focused cardiac ultrasonography (FCU) is a point-of-care technique that can assess heart size.

Hypothesis/objectives: Veterinary students trained in FCU can differentiate dogs with subclinical MMVD based on left ventricular (LV) and left atrial (LA) dimensions.

Twenty-four hour continuous transvenous temporary right ventricular pacing in healthy horses.

Background: The ability to perform transvenous temporary cardiac pacing (TV-TP) is critical to stabilize horses with symptomatic bradyarrhythmias. Reports of successful TV-TP in horses are limited, and only briefly describe short-term pacing.

Objective: To describe temporary, medium-term (24 h) transvenous right ventricular pacing in awake horses using a bipolar torque-directed pacing catheter.

Urine sodium concentration after intravenous furosemide in dogs with acute congestive heart failure and correlation with treatment efficacy.

Background: Poor natriuresis is a potential marker of diuretic resistance in dogs with acute congestive heart failure (CHF) but little is known about the relationship between urine sodium concentration (uNa) and frequency of successful decongestion. Supplemental O is a common treatment in dogs with severe CHF. The time from start to discontinuation of supplemental O therapy (DCSO ) typically reflects the time course and ease of decongestion.