Replying to Elle P. 15/04/2024 - 16:03
You got it! 🙂
Thank you for being brave!
This ECG shows a common ECG abnormality that is found in dogs in the ICU setting. It represents a mainly sinus rhythm with frequent ventricular premature complexes or VPCs (shown by the black arrows).
You can tell that the main rhythm is sinus because there is a P wave for every QRS and the QRS complexes following the P waves are tall and narrow, being positive in lead II. The VPCs on the other hand seem to disrupt the rhythm and don’t look like the normal QRS complexes. They are much wider and are negative in lead II (bizarre looking). There is no P wave before them.
VPCs can be seen in many situations. They can be found in dogs with cardiac disease, but they can be equally present in dogs that have systemic disease e.g. IMHA, splenic disease and so on. Cytokines disrupt the heart’s normal electrical activity and this can result in VPCs or even ventricular tachycardia.
Scott 🙂
