SYSTOLIC EJECTION MURMURS AND THE LEFT VENTRICULAR OUTFLOW TRACT IN BOXERS

摘要

The prevalence of murmurs in boxer dogs is 50-80% (1-4), the majority of which are of low intensity. These murmurs are difficult to diagnose and their origin and prognosis are not clear. Some of the murmurs are caused by aortic stenosis (AS) and in adult boxers with low intensity murmurs, the size of the LVOT has been proven smaller than that of other dog breeds (5). It is not known if the dogs are born with a comparatively small LVOT or if it develops during adolescence. Therefore we have followed the development of the LVOT and also the progression and variability of heart murmurs in growing boxers. In the process it became clear that evaluation of the murmurs was dependant on the experience of the investigators (6) and the stress level of the puppies (4). For that reason we developed a digital method to analyse heart murmurs (7). Using the digital analysis in combination with standard physiological and clinical methods we have evaluated the relation between systolic ejection murmurs and cardiacfunction in growing and adult boxers.