BackgroundDoberman Pinschers with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) are at high risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD). Risk factors for SCD are poorly defined.AimTo assess cardiac biomarkers, Holter‐ECG, echocardiographic variables and canine characteristics in a group of Doberman Pinschers with DCM dying of SCD and in a DCM control group to identify factors predicting SCD.Methods/AnimalsA longitudinal prospective study was performed in 95 Doberman Pinschers with DCM. Forty‐one dogs died within 3 months after the last cardiac examination (SCD‐group) and were compared to 54 Doberman Pinschers with DCM surviving 1 year after inclusion. Holter‐ECG, echocardiography, measurement of N‐terminal prohormone of brain‐natriuretic peptide (NT‐proBNP), and cardiac Troponin I (cTnI) concentrations were recorded for all dogs.ResultsVolume overload of the left ventricle (left ventricular end‐diastolic volume (LVEDV/BSA) > 91.3 mL/m²) was the single best variable to predict SCD. The probability of SCD increases 8.5‐fold (CI 0.95 = 0.8–35.3) for every 50 mL/m²‐unit increment in LVEDV/BSA. Ejection fraction (EF), left ventricular end‐systolic volume (LVESV/BSA) and NT‐proBNP were highly correlated with LVEDV/BSA (r = −0.63, 0.96, 0.86, respectively). Generated conditional inference trees (CTREEs) revealed that the presence of ventricular tachycardia (VT), increased concentration of cTnI, and the fastest rate (FR) of ventricular premature complexes (VPC) ≥260 beats per minute (bpm) are additional important variables to predict SCD.ConclusionConditional inference trees provided in this study might be useful for risk assessment of SCD in Doberman Pinschers with DCM.

BackgroundEchocardiography and 24‐hour ECG are the gold standard tests to diagnose dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in Doberman Pinschers (DP), but myocardial damage might be detected earlier using a high‐sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs‐cTnI) assay.ObjectiveTo evaluate and compare an hs‐cTnI assay (Advia Centaur TnI‐Ultra assay) with a conventional cTnI assay in DP with different stages of DCM and in healthy DP.AnimalsThree hundred forty‐five examinations from 162 DP with and 179 DP without DCM.MethodsProspective longitudinal study. Dogs were allocated into 6 groups based on echocardiographic and 24‐hour ECG criteria: (1) healthy group (179 dogs), (2) last‐normal group (29 dogs), which included dogs that were considered to be healthy at the time of their examination but were assigned to the last‐normal group retrospectively when DCM was diagnosed at their next examination within 1.5 years, (3) only arrhythmias (45 dogs, 119 examinations), (4) only echocardiographic changes (24 dogs, 61 examinations), (5) echocardiographic changes with ventricular premature complexes (41 dogs, 100 examinations), and (6) decompensated (23 dogs, 36 examinations). Hs‐cTnI and conventional cTnI concentration measurements were performed and compared.ResultsA cutoff value of hs‐cTnI concentration >0.113 ng/mL had a sensitivity of 81.2% and a specificity of 73.2% to identify the presence of DCM. The conventional cTnI assay showed a similar test performance, but the hs‐cTnI assay identified more dogs (21/29 dogs, 72%) in the last‐normal group compared to the conventional cTnI test (18/29 dogs, 62%).Conclusions and Clinical ImportanceThe hs‐cTnI is an additional test with good potential to identify early DCM.