Results of ambulatory electrocardiography in overtly healthy Doberman Pinschers with equivocal echocardiographic evidence of dilated cardiomyopathy.

Abstract

To determine results of ambulatory electrocardiography in and outcome of overtly healthy Doberman Pinschers with equivocal echocardiographic evidence of dilated cardiomyopathy. Case series. 44 overtly healthy (25 male, 19 female) Doberman Pinschers. 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiographic (Holter) recordings with > 90% scan quality obtained the same day that echocardiography was performed were reviewed. Holter recordings from 42 of 44 (95%) dogs contained ventricular premature complexes (VPC). Fifteen of 44 (34%) dogs had > 100 VPC, 9 (20%) had > 500 VPC, and 5 (11%) had > 1,000 VPC. Nonsustained (< 30 seconds) ventricular tachycardia was detected in 4 dogs. Eighteen of 27 (67%) dogs with > 100 VPC, any couplets or triplets of VPC, or ventricular tachycardia developed dilated cardiomyopathy within 1 year, compared with 8 of 17 (47%) dogs with < 100 VPC, no couplets or triplets of VPC, and no ventricular tachycardia. Of the 18 dogs that did not develop dilated cardiomyopathy within 1 year, 11 (61%) did so within 3 years. Results suggest that a high percentage of Doberman Pinschers with equivocal echocardiographic evidence of dilated cardiomyopathy will be found to have VPC during 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiography and that most will develop echocardiographic abnormalities indicative of cardiomyopathy.