Artificial cardiac pacemaker placement in dogs with a cohort of myocarditis suspects and association of ultrasensitive cardiac troponin I with survival

Clinical presentation, cardiovascular findings, etiology, and outcome of myocarditis in dogs: 64 cases with presumptive antemortem diagnosis (26 confirmed postmortem) and 137 cases with postmortem diagnosis only (2004–2017)

“…Elevations in cTnI (>0.2 ng/ml) have been documented in dogs with infiltrative myocardial disease such as myocarditis [52,53] and myocardial neoplasia [51], as well as dogs with various congenital and acquired cardiac diseases [54e56] and bradyarrhythmias [57,58]. Common canineacquired heart diseases typically cause only mild to moderate elevations in cTnI, with reported values up to 1.405 ng/ml (absolute maximum) [41] or 1.57 ng/ml (95% percentile) [54] because myocyte destruction is not a major feature of these diseases.…”

2022 Update of the Consensus on the Rational Use of Antithrombotics and Thrombolytics in Veterinary Critical Care (CURATIVE) Domain 1‐ Defining populations at risk

“…. 331–364 Most were case series or single case reports (LOE 5), and 1240 dogs were described, of which 60 had suspected or confirmed thrombosis (5%). Two studies were experimental (LOE 3) but of poor quality 336,361 .…”

“…336 The other studies were focused on pacemaker complications and included large sample sizes (total n = 380), and thrombosis was not reported .328, 350–352 One case series of dogs in which pacemakers were implanted for the management of suspected myocarditis described 74 dogs with prothrombotic comorbidities, including protein‐losing disease, immune‐mediated disease, the presence of spontaneous echocontrast, hepatic disease, and hyperadrenocorticism. Thrombosis was not reported as a complication, with a median survival time of 1079 days 359 …”

“…334,337,339,346 Eighteen studies (1 LOE 3 good, 17 LOE 5 good-fair) were judged to be neutral to the PECO question based on long-term follow-up of dogs after pacemaker implantation without reports of thrombotic complications. 332,333,336,340,342,343,[347][348][349][350][351][352][353][354]356,359,363,364 An experimental (LOE 3) study described 74 dogs with implanted pacemakers (≤180 days). A variety of complications were reported, but thrombosis did not occur.…”

“…Thrombosis was not reported as a complication, with a median survival time of 1079 days. 359 Overall, the available literature suggests that the presence of a transvenous pacemaker in dogs is associated with the development of thrombosis, with an estimated overall prevalence of ∼5% and an estimated prevalence of symptomatic thrombosis of ∼1%. Cranial vena cava syndrome is the most commonly associated thrombotic complication of transvenous pacemakers in dogs, with outcomes ranging from resolution to death.…”