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Life-Threatening Cardiac Emergencies for the Small Animal Practitioner offers a quick reference to recognizing and treating common cardiac arrhythmias and emergent cardiac conditions in canine and feline patients, designed for fast access during an emergency.
 
* Offers quick and easy access to key information for diagnosing and managing arrhythmias and cardiac conditions in dogs and cats
* Designed for ease of use in the fast-paced emergency setting
* Presents clear, reproducible ECGs, radiographs, and echocardiograms for reference and comparison
* Part of the Rapid Reference series providing small animal practitioners with ideal quick references for patient-side guidance
List of contents
Preface ix
 
Acknowledgments xi
 
Introduction xiii
 
1 Normal ECG 1
 
Before recording 1
 
ECG set up 2
 
Recording the ECG 2
 
What is measured 3
 
Normal ECG 3
 
Calculating the heart rate 3
 
Calculating the mean electrical axis 5
 
Measuring the complexes 5
 
2 Bradyarrhythmias 8
 
Sinus bradycardia 8
 
Sinus arrhythmia 9
 
Sinus arrest 10
 
Atrial standstill 10
 
AV block overview 12
 
First-degree AV block 12
 
Second-degree AV block 12
 
Third-degree AV block 13
 
Asystole 15
 
Cardiopulmonary arrest 16
 
Escape rhythms 20
 
3 Tachyarrhythmias 22
 
Atrial premature complexes 22
 
Ventricular premature complexes 22
 
Differentiating SVT from VT 24
 
Supraventricular tachycardia 27
 
Atrial fibrillation 28
 
Ventricular pre-excitation 32
 
Re-entrant tachycardia 33
 
Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome 34
 
Ventricular tachycardia 35
 
Accelerated idioventricular rhythm 38
 
Ventricular flutter 39
 
Ventricular fibrillation 40
 
Torsade de pointes 40
 
4 Miscellaneous arrhythmias and cardiac conditions 42
 
Artifacts and anomalies 42
 
Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy 42
 
AV junctional rhythms 45
 
Junctional escape beats 45
 
Junctional rhythm 46
 
Bradycardia-tachycardia syndrome (sick sinus syndrome) 47
 
Electrical alternans (pericardial effusion) 48
 
Left bundle branch block 50
 
Left anterior fascicular block 51
 
Right bundle branch block 52
 
ST segment abnormalities 52
 
T wave abnormalities 53
 
Canine congestive heart failure--mitral valve insufficiency 55
 
Canine dilated cardiomyopathy 58
 
Feline aortic thromboembolism (saddle thrombus) 59
 
Feline congestive heart failure 64
 
Heartworm--caval syndrome (CS) 68
 
Pericardial effusion 73
 
5 Electrolyte disturbance and the ECG 77
 
Hyperkalemia 77
 
Hypokalemia 78
 
Hypercalcemia 78
 
Hypocalcemia 79
 
6 Emergency algorithms 80
 
Bradycardia algorithm 80
 
Tachycardia algorithm 80
 
Asystole algorithm (CPR) 80
 
Arrhythmia drug chart 80
 
Further reading 86
 
Index 000