2016 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

This study is the first study to evaluate normal ambulatory electrocardiographic values in healthy puppies. This information can be used to potentially screen puppies at an earlier age for cardiac disease. The number of ventricular arrhythmias considered normal for healthy adult dogs is thought to vary with dog breed. Whether or not this breed variation is true in puppies is unknown. Now that a normal baseline has been established for puppies, further studies can be conducted to evaluate for breed variation. Patients underwent LUS and TXR within 6 hours. LUS images were scored for presence of B-lines at 4 sites on each hemithorax. An individual LUS site was scored positive if >3 B-lines were observed within a single intercostal space at that site. TXR were scored for presence of alveolar-interstitial infiltrates at 4 sites on each hemithorax, analogous to LUS. An individual TXR site was scored positive if infiltrate was present in least 25% of the site. Medical records were evaluated for final diagnosis. Agreement in distribution of positive sites between LUS and TXR was compared using a Cohen's Kappa coefficient. Patterns of distribution of AIS among different final diagnoses were compared using Fisher's exact tests.