Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
1-1999
Publication Source
Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine
Volume
13
Issue
1
Start Page
65
Last Page
71
DOI
10.1111/j.1939-1676.1999.tb02167.x
Abstract
A novel dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in 12 related Portuguese Water Dogs was identified by retrospective analysis of postmortem and biopsy case records. Male and female puppies born to clinically healthy parents typically died at 13 (± 7.3) weeks of age (range, 2–32 weeks) because of congestive heart failure. Puppies died suddenly without previous signs or with mild depression followed by clinical signs of congestive heart failure 1–5 days before death. There was no sex predilection. The hearts were enlarged and rounded, with marked left ventricular and atrial dilation. No other significant structural cardiac defects were noted. The histologic changes in the myocardium were diffuse and characterized by myofibers of irregular sizes separated by an edematous interstitium. The myofibers had multifocal swollen, cleared segments often involving perinuclear areas that contained granular, phosphotungstic-acid-hematoxylin-positive material consistent with mitochondria. There was loss of the cross-striation pattern, and intercalated discs were difficult to identify. There was no evidence of concurrent myocardial fibrosis; rare chronic inflammatory infiltrates were noted in one dog. Noncardiac skeletal muscles were not affected. The underlying cause is unknown. From the pedigree analysis, an autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance is suspected. Based on the histologic findings, this DCM is most likely due to an underlying molecular (biochemical or structural) defect. The early onset and rapid progression of the disease makes this a clinically distinctive form of canine DCM.
Copyright/Permission Statement
Copyright © 1999 The Authors. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Keywords
Dog, Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy
Recommended Citation
Dambach, D. M., Lannon, A., Sleeper, M. M., & Buchanan, J. W. (1999). Familial Dilated Cardiomyopathy of Young Portuguese Water Dogs. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 13 (1), 65-71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-1676.1999.tb02167.x
Included in
Animal Diseases Commons, Cardiology Commons, Cardiovascular Diseases Commons, Congenital, Hereditary, and Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities Commons, Veterinary Infectious Diseases Commons
Date Posted: 22 December 2016
This document has been peer reviewed.