2017 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

investigated in dogs, is calculated as the dislodgement of a virtual point automatically determined between mitral's septal and lateral annulus toward the left ventricular apex. One of the reported advantages of TMAD over LSt is the possibility of having it calculated using images not suitable for strain analysis, as well as the reduced processing time. In this prospective cross-sectional observational study twenty-seven healthy dogs (1-14 years/2-32 kg) underwent an echocardiogram. Apical 4-chamber (AP4) and 2-chamber (AP2) images were obtained, which allowed the calculation of TMAD and LSt obtained from both images. Data underwent the Shapiro-Wilk test to check for a normal distribution. Results are shown in table 1. Similar TMAD and LSt was calculated from AP4 and AP2 images. No differences existed between males and females for TMAD-AP4, TMAD-AP2 and LSt. A positive correlation existed between TMAD-AP2 and LSt-AP2, Global LSt (combined AP4 + AP2 LSt) and body weight. Interestingly, TMAD correlated significantly with Ventricular arrhythmias (VA) were already demonstrated to be a concern in dogs with myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD). The coupling interval (CI) and the prematurity index (PI) ( Figure 1 ) were shown to accurately differentiate benign and malignant VA in human beings, in which VA are known to be associated with an increased risk to either evolve into signs of heart failure or die suddenly. In this study, we investigated how the CI and PI perform in dogs with MMVD.