Inherited Ventricular Arrhythmia - Page 1

Hello,

If anyone has had a dog diagnosed with,  "Inherited Ventricular Arrhythmia" I would greatly appreciated being able to discuss this condition with anyone who has had to deal with it.

Our 11 month old  GSD has recently been diagnosed with this.

Any precautions, advice or links to literature would greatly be appreciated. 

The cardiologist told us there are no "genetic markers" for this affliction, so testing for it in advance is moot.

I am curious if there has been any trend in regards to which lines (if any)  have more instances of this ailment.

Our dogs heart monitor results were not only reviewed by our cardiologist, but the results were sent to Cornell University where a colony of GSD's have been being studied for the past 20 years for this and other cardiac issues within the breed and the diagnosis was confirmed by a staff member at Cornell as well.

We were told that if our boy makes it to 18 months the chances of a "sudden cardiac event" decrease significantly.

Again, anyone with past experience(s) with this ailment who wouldn't mind discussing this would be greatly encouraged to respond to this post.


Feel free to send a PM.

Thank you in advance.

Vinegarjoe

bump.......

Hi Joe,

I had one with Sub Aortic stynosis (hope I spelled that right) I do not think they are the same but they both cause complications..She was diagnosed when I took her in to spay her, Dr. said I should not put her under ansthesia. Her heart was 20% larger then normal, it is a narrowing of the heart valve that causes the blood to be forced through and it basically squirts hard on the wall which causes the swelling (its hard to describe , but imagine a flowing hose nice and smooth then connect it to a narrow nozel and you get a thiner yet stronger flow) I was however told she would basically have a heart attack at any time. This girl was so energetic , They wanted to put her on Beta Blockers but I could not see drugging her in that way. I found a calm home with 3 boys, where she would not be traveling with me as much. Did you call cornell yourself and see what there views are? Iwas told mine could "run in the lines" I don't even remember her breeding.

I hope everything works out,

Blueroan

SAS is indeed a problem in the GSD.  Just ask a canine cardiologist. 

Terri

alot of articles on this subject can be found by simply running a google search.  here's one to get started
http://www.circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/96/4/1337

My Step-son had one diagnosed with a heart murmer as a pup (English lines) he didnt see a cardiologists with her, so not sure what type of heart condition she had. She was fine although small for her lines untill the age of 7yrs when she was put on several types of tablets 1 for heart, lpus durectics sorry cant remember what the others were for. After this she had quite a rapid decline and passed away in her sleep.
Sorry I cant help further, good luck with your male.
Pam

Thx for the responses.

Uber- I did google it, and did read the report papers from Cornell, however, I am more interested in anyone who may have happned upon the ailment ( the only way we found out he had this was due to Gunther having a chest x-ray peformed due to a persistant cough that he developed at the end of June.  Our  vet thought  the x-ray showed an enlarged left atrium. That brought a referrel to a canine cardiologist and an ultra sound examination of his heart revealed that the chambers of his heart were all within normal size limits, but throughout the exam Gunther presented a  continuous irregular heartbeat. )

We then had him wear a holter heart monitor for 24 hours to capture his heart rate during activity and rest. Gunther managed to tolerate the heart monitor for 15 hours (he chewed through the bandages and started puling the lead off of himself, lol) The cardiologist stated 15 hours was enough to give a proper evaluation.

The evaluation of the heart monitor showed that Gunther experienced 6,000 irregular heartbeats during the 15 hour period, the most of which were during his sleep period.

According to the cardiologist, "Inherited Ventricular Arrhythima can cause sudden cardiac arrest especially during sleep for young GSD's".

I am hoping to speak with someone from the board that may have had their GSD get diagnosed with IVA got past the 18 month age and is still living today.  

With no medication to give Gunther  and no way to forecast a "sudden cardiac event" it kind of sucks.

Gunther is a well tempered, high energy boy and we hope he gets to stick around and grow old with us.

Wow, Vinegarjoe, I'm so sorry to hear about this. I was wondering how you and your dog were doing. I'm afraid I know nothing about the condition and can only offer my best wishes.

OP~~

I am interested to know what makes this condition inherited.  Cardiac disease can be inherited, but can be also incidental.  Are the cardiologists sure that these irregular beats are ventricular?  With the cough your dog presented with, it seems to be that there is congestive failure involved as well as issues with the electerical (conduction) system of the heart.  If this is ventricular...I am wondering if there is a device that can be implaneted as in humans to shock the heart out of a lethal arrhythmia.  There are plenty of antiarrhythmia medications out there, as well, but I would want to know the underlying cause of these arrhythmias prior to treating.

Constance Krebs, RN
Univ of MI
Spartanville Shepherds
www.spartanville.com

Constance, go blue! It is my impression also that this condition can be treated with meds. with great success. Joe I am glad they did a heart monitor. Did your specialist suggest meds?
Always,
Cee