Resting and Dynamic Electrocardiography in Dogs with Experimental Chagas Cardiomyopathy

Abstract

In the present protocol, adult dogs were infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, Bolivian strain, in order to show electrocardiographic changes by means of resting and dynamic (Holter) methods during acute and chronic phases of Chagas disease. In the acute phase there were sinus tachycardia, atrial and left ventricular overload, millivoltage suppression, electric alternance, and episodes of sinus arrest. At the parasitemia peak, atrium-ventricular block, junctional escape complexes, and atrium-ventricular dissociation were observed. Dogs that presented the most serious arrhythmias died suddenly. The increase in supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmic events, concentrated in the 4th postinoculation week, was visible at electrocardiographic monitoring. In the chronic phase, the events were restricted to first-degree atrium-ventricular blocks, premature ventricular complexes, ventricular bigeminy, and electrical alternation. It was concluded that the computerized and dynamic electrocardiography allowed to diagnose transient arrhythmia and to observe that the main tachyarrhythmic changes are concentrated at the acute phase concomitantly to the parasitemia peak.

Detection of Trypanosoma cruzi infection by PCR in Canis lupus familiaris and their ectoparasites in Chile

“…When T. cruzi infection reaches a chronic state, both in humans and dogs, it can cause chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy, identified by multiple changes in the electrocardiogram (ECG, hereafter; Rodrigues-Coura & Borges-Pereira, 2010), including inter alia, right bundle branch block, ventricular and supraventricular arrhythmia, first-degree and third-degree atrioventricular blocks, irregular QRS complexes, and ventricular extrasystole (Oliveira Alves et al, 2012). Although these changes are usually assessed by ECG, this technique cannot confirm the etiologic diagnosis.…”

Form of QRS Extrasystolic Complexes Depending on the Localization of Zones of Electric Stimulation of the Heart Ventricles in Dogs

“…За последние десятилетия было выполнено значительное количество работ по исследованию и описанию нормы ЭКГ у клинически здоровых разных пород собак [1][2][3]. При этом из-за широкого развития комнатного (декоративного) собаководства особое внимание уделялось электрокардиографии мелких пород собак: ши-тцу, той-терьеров, йоркширских терьеров [4,5], а также диагностике сердечно-сосудистых патологий [3,6,7]. Одной из широко распространенных желудочковых аритмий у собак, как и у человека [8], является желудочковая экстрасистолия.…”