MANAGEMENT OF ATRIAL FIBRILLATION, VENTRICULAR ARRHYTHMIA, LEFT VENTRICULAR DYSFUNCTION, AND SUBSEQUENT CARDIOPATHOLOGIC EVALUATION IN AN ORANGUTAN ( × ).

A 37-yr-old male vasectomized hybrid orangutan ( × ) was diagnosed with left ventricular dysfunction during a preventative health care examination. Treatment was initiated with carvedilol. The following year, this orangutan was evaluated for intermittent lethargy.

The aorta in humans and African great apes, and cardiac output and metabolic levels in human evolution.

Humans have a larger energy budget than great apes, allowing the combination of the metabolically expensive traits that define our life history. This budget is ultimately related to the cardiac output, the product of the blood pumped from the ventricle and the number of heart beats per minute, a measure of the blood available for the whole organism physiological activity. To show the relationship between cardiac output and energy expenditure in hominid evolution, we study a surrogate measure of cardiac output, the aortic root diameter, in humans and great apes.

Blood pressure monitoring in zoologically managed bonobos (Pan paniscus).

In response to the growing evidence that hypertension may play a significant role in the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in bonobos, the Great Ape Heart Project established a finger blood pressure (BP) monitoring protocol for zoo-housed bonobos. The ability to monitor BP without the use of anesthesia provides more opportunities to detect potential hypertension in its early stages allowing for therapeutic intervention that may slow the progression of CVD. No BP reference ranges exist for bonobos due to the lack of an established protocol, the difficulty of measuring BP in animals, and small sample size of zoo-housed bonobos.

Surgical placement of implantable cardiac loop recorders in great apes.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in zoologically managed adult great apes, accounting for 29%-77% of adult deaths in the North American population depending on the species. In an effort to better understand the underlying causes of heart disease, implantable loop recorders (ILRs) have been used in some cases to monitor great apes with suspected or known cases of arrhythmia. This is a 10-year review of the Great Ape Heart Project's experience of implanting 21 ILRs in 7 gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla; 9 total ILR devices), 5 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes, 11 total ILR devices), and 1 orangutan (Pongo abelii, 1 ILR device) in an effort to develop effective methods for surgical implantation and remote collection of the data for analysis.

Monitoring great ape heart health through innovative electrocardiogram technology: Training methodologies and welfare implications.

Assessing and treating cardiovascular disease (or heart disease) is a growing concern for institutions housing great apes, as it is a major cause of mortality in all four taxa managed in human care. As part of a proactive monitoring plan, zoological managers and veterinarians often elect to perform electrocardiograms (ECGs) on their great ape populations. ECGs noninvasively evaluate cardiac electrical activity, and are thereby capable of providing information regarding heart function.

GREAT APE HEART PROJECT GUIDELINES FOR THE ECHOCARDIOGRAPHIC ASSESSMENT OF GREAT APES.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been identified as a major cause of mortality in all four great ape taxa in zoologic institutions. In an effort to better understand and treat CVD in captive great apes, a program called the Great Ape Heart Project (GAHP), based at Zoo Atlanta, collects and maintains a database of echocardiograms and other relevant medical information relating to the cardiac health status of great apes. Cardiac health assessments have become standard practice among North American zoos that house great apes and are recommended by all four great ape Species Survival Plans (SSP) for the assessment of CVD in captive great apes.

Diagnosing cardiovascular disease in western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) with brain natriuretic peptide.

Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death in zoo-housed great apes, accounting for 41% of adult gorilla death in North American zoological institutions. Obtaining a timely and accurate diagnosis of cardiovascular disease in gorillas is challenging, relying on echocardiography which generally requires anesthetic medications that may confound findings and can cause severe side effects in cardiovascularly compromised animals. The measurement of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) has emerged as a modality of interest in the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of human patients with heart failure.