Electrocardiographic reference values in whippets

• Published in: The veterinary journal (1997) Vol. 182; no. 1; pp. 59 - 66
• Main Authors: Bavegems, Valérie, Duchateau, Luc, Ham, Luc Van, Rick, André De, Sys, Stanislas U.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2009
• Subjects: Animals; athletic heart syndrome; breed differences; Canine; dog diseases; Dog Diseases - diagnosis; dogs; Dogs - physiology; Electrocardiography; Electrocardiography - standards; Electrocardiography - veterinary; Female; Heart; Heart - physiology; heart diseases; Heart Diseases - diagnosis; Heart Diseases - veterinary; hounds; Male; P-wave amplitude; R-wave amplitudes; reference standards; Reference Values; Species Specificity; ST-segment deflection; T-wave amplitude; Whippet; whippets; Heart; Electrocardiography; Whippet; Reference values; Canine
• ISSN: 1090-0233; 1532-2971
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2008.05.003

The aim of this study was to determine the electrocardiographic characteristics of whippets and to compare the results with published reference values for a general dog population. Electrocardiographic parameters from 105 healthy whippets were used to establish reference values for the breed. The most important differences compared to published reference values were the higher median R-wave amplitudes in leads II, CV 6LL and CV 6LU. For some parameters (P-wave amplitude, ST-segment deflection and T-wave amplitude in lead II; R-wave amplitude in CV 5RL), a marked percentage of the whippet values were above the published maximum reference data. The results confirmed that whippets have electrocardiographic characteristics similar to those reported in athletic heart syndrome in humans. Some of these characteristics could be erroneously taken as evidence of cardiac disease and clinicians should be aware of these factors to prevent unnecessary investigations in healthy dogs.