Abstract: Background Acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema (CPE) is a serious development for dogs with myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD), and CPE commonly requires hospitalization.
Hypothesis/Objectives To characterize clinical findings and evaluate risk factors in dogs with MMVD hospitalized with acute CPE.
Animals 100 dogs with MMVD hospitalized with acute CPE.
Methods Prospective observational study measuring clinical parameters and Tufts Dyspnea Score (TDS) within the first 24 hours of hospitalization to assess outcomes. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis were used.
Results Upon hospital presentation, median respiratory rate was 64 bpm and median TDS was 5 (TDS range 0 to 10). Median length of stay in the ICU was 20 hours. Nighty-five of 100 dogs survived to hospital discharge. For the 91 dogs with follow-up information, 39 experienced death or re-hospitalization for CPE within 2 months after hospital discharge. No clinical parameter at hospital presentation predicted survival to hospital discharge. The lowest recorded TDS within the first 12 hours (TDS ≦4) had a sensitivity of 97.9% and specificity of 80% for predicting survival to hospital discharge. Dogs with a louder murmur at presentation or a persistently high respiratory rate within the first 12 hours were more likely to have an adverse two-month outcomes.
Conclusions and clinical importance We observed a high survival rate in dogs with MMVD hospitalized with acute CPE. No clinical parameter at hospital presentation predicted survival to hospital discharge, however parameters recorded during the initial 24 hours of hospitalization did predict hospital discharge and adverse two-month outcomes.
