Management of incidentally detected heart murmurs in dogs and cats.

A dog or a cat has an incidentally detected heart murmur if the murmuris an unexpected discovery during a veterinary consultation that was not initially focused on the cardiovascular system. This document presents approaches for managing dogs and cats that have incidentally-detected heart murmurs, with an emphasis on murmur characteristics, signalment profiling, and multifactorial decision-making to choose an optimal course for a given patient.

Reversible myocardial failure in a cat with primary hypoparathyroidism.

A 4-year-old domestic shorthair cat presented with tetany. Laboratory testing confirmed severe hypocalcemia and primary hypoparathyroidism. The cat subsequently developed congestive heart failure secondary to myocardial failure and was treated with pimobendan, enalapril, furosemide, calcitriol and calcium salts.

Development and evaluation of a questionnaire for assessment of health-related quality of life in cats with cardiac disease.

Objective: To develop, validate, and evaluate a questionnaire (Cats' Assessment Tool for Cardiac Health [CATCH] questionnaire) for assessing health-related quality of life in cats with cardiac disease.

Design: Prospective study.

Animals: 275 cats with cardiac disease.

Echocardiographic and clinicopathologic characterization of pericardial effusion in dogs: 107 cases (1985-2006).

Objective: To evaluate sensitivity and specificity of echocardiography for diagnosis of cardiac masses in dogs with pericardial effusion.

Design: Retrospective case series.

Animals: 107 dogs with pericardial effusion.

Utility of plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) to distinguish between congestive heart failure and non-cardiac causes of acute dyspnea in cats.

Background: Circulating plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) concentration facilitates emergency diagnosis of congestive heart failure (CHF) in people. Its utility to discriminate between dyspneic cats with CHF vs. primary respiratory disease requires further assessment.

Infective endocarditis in a dog and the phylogenetic relationship of the associated "Bartonella rochalimae" strain with isolates from dogs, gray foxes, and a human.

The first case of canine endocarditis caused by "Bartonella rochalimae" is reported. By PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism, sequence, and phylogenetic analyses, Bartonella isolates from a dog with endocarditis, 22 gray foxes, and three dogs, described as B. clarridgeiae like, were confirmed to belong to the new species "B.

Platelet function in clinically healthy cats and cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: analysis using the Platelet Function Analyzer-100.

Background: There is currently no simple analytical tool for the evaluation of hypercoagulability in cats. The Platelet Function Analyzer-100 (PFA-100; Dade Behring Inc., Deerfield, IL, USA) is a bench-top machine that evaluates platelet function by measuring closure time (CT) in citrated whole blood under high shear conditions.

Tissue Doppler imaging in Maine Coon cats with a mutation of myosin binding protein C with or without hypertrophy.

Background: The cardiac myosin binding protein C gene is mutated in Maine Coon (MC) cats with familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Hypotheses: Early diastolic mitral annular velocity is incrementally reduced from normal cats to MC cats with only an abnormal genotype to MC cats with abnormal genotype and hypertrophy.

Animals: Group 1 consisted of 6 normal domestic shorthair cats, group 2 of 6 MC cats with abnormal genotype but no hypertrophy, and group 3 of 15 MC cats with hypertrophy and abnormal genotype.

The effect of ramipril on left ventricular mass, myocardial fibrosis, diastolic function, and plasma neurohormones in Maine Coon cats with familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy without heart failure.

Background: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common heart disease of cats, resulting in left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy, myocardial fibrosis, and diastolic dysfunction.

Hypothesis: Ramipril will reduce LV mass, improve diastolic function, and reduce myocardial fibrosis in cats with HCM without congestive heart failure (CHF).

Animals: This prospective, blinded, placebo-controlled study included 26 Maine Coon and Maine Coon cross-bred cats with familial HCM but without CHF.

Low plasma taurine concentration in Newfoundland dogs is associated with low plasma methionine and cyst(e)ine concentrations and low taurine synthesis.

Although taurine is not dietarily essential for dogs, taurine deficiency and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) are sporadically reported in large-breed dogs. Taurine status and husbandry were examined in 216 privately owned Newfoundlands, a giant dog breed with high incidence of idiopathic DCM (1.3-2.

Clinicopathologic findings and outcome in dogs with infective endocarditis: 71 cases (1992-2005).

Objectives: To evaluate clinical, laboratory, and necropsy findings in dogs with infective endocarditis (IE).

Design: Retrospective case series.

Animals: 71 dogs with possible or definite IE.

Evaluation of the relationship between causative organisms and clinical characteristics of infective endocarditis in dogs: 71 cases (1992-2005).

Objective: To evaluate microbiologic findings in dogs with infective endocarditis (IE) and determine whether there were differences in clinical features of disease caused by different groups of infective agents.

Design: Retrospective case series.

Animals: 71 dogs with suspected or definite IE.

Tissue Doppler imaging and gradient echo cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in normal cats and cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) often develop diastolic dysfunction, which can lead to development of left congestive heart failure. Tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) echocardiography has emerged as a useful, noninvasive method for assessing diastolic function in cats. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) has been performed in cats and accurately quantifies left ventricular (LV) mass in normal cats.

Congenital heart diseases of puppies and kittens.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is defined as a morphologic defect of the heart or associated great vessels present at birth. Abnormalities are caused by alterations or arrests in particular phases of embryonic development of the fetal heart. The term congenital does not imply that the defect was inherited, and the defect may have occurred spontaneously or secondary to a drug or toxin.

Comparison of myocardial contrast enhancement via cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in healthy cats and cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Objective: To quantify myocardial contrast enhancement (MCE) of the left ventricle (LV) by use of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) in healthy cats and cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and to compare MCE between the 2 groups.

Animals: 10 healthy cats and 26 Maine Coon cats with moderate to severe HCM but without clinical evidence of congestive heart failure.

Procedure: Anesthetized cats underwent gradient echo CMRI examination.

A cardiac myosin binding protein C mutation in the Maine Coon cat with familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is one of the most common causes of sudden cardiac death in young adults and is a familial disease in at least 60% of cases. Causative mutations have been identified in several sarcomeric genes, including the myosin binding protein C (MYBPC3) gene. Although numerous causative mutations have been identified, the pathogenetic process is still poorly understood.

Quantification of left ventricular mass using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging compared with echocardiography in domestic cats.

The hypotheses were that cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) would accurately determine LV mass in domestic cats and would do so more accurately than echocardiography (ECHO). ECHO was performed on seven sedated cats. LV mass was calculated using the truncated ellipse formula from a right parasternal long-axis view.

Atrial fibrillation in cats: 50 cases (1979-2002).

Objective: To determine signalment, clinical signs, diagnostic findings, treatment, and outcome for cats with atrial fibrillation (AF).

Design: Retrospective study.

Animals: 50 cats.

Intra-coronary arterial injection of mesenchymal stromal cells and microinfarction in dogs.

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have the potential to treat many myocardial diseases. We investigated whether these multipotent stem cells derived from bone marrow could be administered safely into the coronary circulation of healthy dogs. We injected about 0.

A prospective study of canine infective endocarditis in northern California (1999-2001): emergence of Bartonella as a prevalent etiologic agent.

A prospective study was performed (June 1999 to May 2001) to determine the incidence of infective endocarditis (IE) due to Bartonella in dogs in northern California and to compare these patients with other dogs with IE. IE was diagnosed antemortem based on clinical signs and echocardiography in 18 dogs. The etiologic agent was Bartonella sp.

Brain natriuretic peptide concentration in dogs with heart disease and congestive heart failure.

Plasma brain natriuretic peptide concentration ([BNP]) is high in humans with cardiac disease and is further increased with congestive heart failure (CHF). The hypotheses of this study were that dogs with moderate to severe mitral regurgitation due to myxomatous mitral valve disease (MVD) would have increased plasma [BNP] compared to normal dogs, that plasma [BNP] would be higher in dogs with CHP, and that plasma [BNP] would predict premature death from cardiovascular disease. The study population consisted of 34 dogs: 9 normal dogs and 25 dogs with MVD.