Chronic valvular disease - Servet clinical guides

Chronic valvular disease (CVD) is the most common heart disease seen in veterinary practice. Three of every four dogs with heart disease presented at the clinic have CVD; one of every four elderly dogs has it. This clear and simple visual guide provides all the tools that a general practitioner needs to treat this disease successfully.

Author:

Joaquín Bernal de Pablo-Blanco

Joaquín Bernal holds a degree in veterinary medicine from the Complutense University of Madrid and trained at the Animal Medical Center of New York, USA.

He is a member and former vice-president of the Cardiology and Respiratory Specialists Group (GECAR) of AVEPA (Spanish Small Animal Veterinary Association) and member of the European Society of Veterinary Cardiology (ESVC).

He has been working exclusively as a veterinary cardiologist since 1995.

Joaquín Bernal is also a founding partner and director of Cardiovet, an international telediagnostic cardiology and respiratory referral service for veterinary clinics in Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

Since 2003, he has been a principal investigator and consultant for electrocardiography and telemetry analysis in preclinical toxicology, pharmacodynamics, and pharmaceutical safety studies in drug development for human and veterinary use (CIDA SAL, Harlan, Vivotecnia). He is currently pursuing scientific research at the study centres Envigo Spain and Envigo UK.

He is the author and coauthor of several books and dozens of articles on cardiology, electrocardiography, and related topics, as well as frequent lecturer on these topics at on-site seminars and online courses in Spain and elsewhere.

Table of contents:

1. Read me first

Mitral valve anatomy

Aetiology of chronic valvular disease

What is chronic valvular disease?

What is congestive heart failure?

Summary

2. At the clinic

Prevalence and risk factors of chronic valvular disease

History

Physical examination

3. Diagnosis

Thoracic radiography

Electrocardiography

Echocardiography

Cardiac biomarkers

Six simple ways to differentiate CVD from respiratory disease

4. General aspects of patient treatment and clinical management

Treatment

CVD treatment strategy

Summary of the most commonly used drugs in CVD-induced CHF treatment

5. Treatment of CVD-induced CHF at each disease stage

Treatment of asymptomatic CVD patients

Treatment of patients with advanced CVD-induced CHF

6. Client education

How does the heart work?

What is the mitral valve?

What happens if the mitral valve does not close properly?

What is chronic valvular disease?

Could my dog have CVD?

What are the clinical signs of CVD?

How is CVD diagnosed?

Is CVD treatable?

How long can my dog live with CVD?

What should I do if my dog is diagnosed with CVD?

Appendix I. Table of doses

References