Volume: 56 Issue: 1
Year: 2025, Page: 73-80, Doi: https://doi.org/10.51966/jvas.2025.56.1.73-80
Received: Sept. 27, 2024 Accepted: Dec. 2, 2024 Published: March 31, 2025
Pleural effusion in dogs is associated with cardiac and non-cardiac diseases, often occurring concurrently. Scientific literature has documented different aetiological factors related to cardiac as well as non-cardiac causes, however, any evidence to link intra-cardiac conduction abnormalities with pleural effusion in dogs is lacking. This study is an attempt to document changes on electrocardiography (ECG) including intracardiac conduction abnormalities in dogs with pleural effusion and preserved left ventricular systolic function. Fourteen dogs brought to the hospital with respiratory distress and confirmed to have pleural effusion and normal left ventricular systolic function were subjected to detailed study and the findings obtained were compared statistically with that of six apparently healthy dogs brought to the hospital either for vaccination or routine health check-up. The important electrocardiographic abnormalities were increased heart rate, increased P wave duration, reduced R wave amplitude, QRS electrical alternans, deep S-waves, ST elevation or depression, ST slurring and broad-based T waves. Rhythm alterations included non-respiratory sinus arrhythmia and supraventricular tachyarrhythmia. The intra-cardiac conduction abnormalities included a delay in conduction through atrial myocardium with normal AV nodal conduction. The minor delay in intraventricular conduction noticed in the affected dogs is not significant to consider it for a right or left ventricular block pattern. The electrocardiographic alterations recorded in the present study cannot be concluded as a cause of pleural effusion in dogs with preserved systolic function.
Keywords: Pleural effusion, aetiology, electrocardiography
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© 2025 Reshma et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Reshma R., Arun George, Manju K. Mathew, Ajith Y., Madhavan Unny N. Beena V., Umesh C.G., and Safeer M.S. 2024. Electrocardiographic abnormalities in dogs with pleural effusion and preserved left ventricular systolic function.
J. Vet. Anim. Sci. 56 (1):73-80