2016 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

Of the sixteen patients, two were unable to be fitted with a device due to a weak signal, one client terminated the study after 1 day, and the device moved out of place and stopped recording on one dog. The remaining twelve dogs had at least 3 out of 4 interpretable tracings from manually activated recordings. The auto-activated recordings triggered by pre-set parameters were of good quality. After each set of auto-activated recordings were reviewed, the parameters were adjusted to define the outer range of normal and recorded rhythms were reclassified. Over the course of the study patient heart rates did not exceed 222 bpm for 32 beats or reach 30 bpm for 12 consecutive beats. Fewer auto-activations occurred per dog when the pause parameter was set at 4.5 seconds than 3 seconds. One symptomatic patient had three episodes while wearing the device however there was no indication of a rhythm abnormality in the manually activated recordings. The other symptomatic patient did not have an episode while wearing the monitor and the device incorrectly logged an atrial fibrillation episode. During this time period, the ECG from the ICM was not of sufficient quality to identify p waves but the control Holter recording clearly showed a sinus arrhythmia was present. The device was still recording at time of removal in all but one dog. Five dogs had self-limiting, mild skin irritation after removal of the device.