OCCURRENCE OF CARDIAC ARRHYTHMIAS IN STANDARDBRED RACEHORSES.
JR Slack, RC Boston, LR Soma and VB Reef
http://tinyurl.com/olu6f9y
This prospective observational study assessed the occurrence of cardiac arrhythmias in Standardbred racehorses both prior to racing and in the late post race period (6-29 minutes post race). A non-continuous recording device was used in this study where 8657 ECG recordings were collected from 1816 horses over a 12 week period. 87.8% of horses had normal sinus rhythm prior to racing, 6.9% had second degree AV block, with the remainder having other arrhythmias. In the post race period no horses had normal sinus rhythm, 99.4% had sinus tachycardia; 0.28% had ventricular premature depolarisation, 0.14% had atrial fibrillation, 0.14% had supraventricular premature depolarisation (s), with the remainder having other arrhythmias. There was no association between pre-race furosemide administration and post race cardiac arrhythmia, the only risk factor identified was age.
The bottom line: The non-continuous recording method is a practical tool to detect physiological and pathological cardiac arrhythmias; the frequency of arrhythmias detected at this time period post racing can be used to inform racecourse veterinary surgeons.
--Ends--
http://www.evj.co.uk/evj
Photo Gallery
Prev 1 of 1 Next
