Auscultation and echocardiographic findings in Bull Terriers with and without polycystic kidney disease

• Published in: Australian veterinary journal Vol. 83; no. 5; pp. 270 - 275
• Main Authors: O'Leary, C.A, Mackay, B.M, Taplin, R.H, Atwell, R.B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-05-2005
• Subjects: accuracy; animal age; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Breeding; Bull Terrier; disease detection; disease prevalence; disease severity; dog diseases; Dog Diseases - diagnosis; Dog Diseases - diagnostic imaging; Dog Diseases - genetics; Dogs; echocardiography; Echocardiography - methods; Echocardiography - veterinary; Female; genetic disorders; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; heart diseases; heart sounds; heart valves; heart ventricle; Heart Ventricles - diagnostic imaging; kidney diseases; left ventricle outflow tract obstruction; Male; mitral valve disease; Mitral Valve Insufficiency - complications; Mitral Valve Insufficiency - diagnostic imaging; Mitral Valve Insufficiency - genetics; Mitral Valve Insufficiency - veterinary; polycystic kidney disease; Polycystic Kidney, Autosomal Dominant - complications; Polycystic Kidney, Autosomal Dominant - diagnostic imaging; Polycystic Kidney, Autosomal Dominant - genetics; Polycystic Kidney, Autosomal Dominant - veterinary; test sensitivity; Ventricular Outflow Obstruction - complications; Ventricular Outflow Obstruction - diagnostic imaging; Ventricular Outflow Obstruction - genetics; Ventricular Outflow Obstruction - veterinary; Australia
• ISSN: 0005-0423; 1751-0813
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-0813.2005.tb12733.x

Objective To investigate a possible association between Bull Terrier polycystic kidney disease (BTPKD) and cardiac disease, to determine the prevalence of mitral valve disease (MVD) and left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (LVOTO) in the Australian Bull Terrier population, and to compare auscultation and echocardiography in detection of cardiac disease in Bull Terriers.
Design Ninety‐nine Bull Terriers, ranging in age from 8 weeks to 13 years and 11 months were auscultated and examined using renal ultrasonography; 86 were also examined using echocardiography. The prevalence and severity of heart defects in dogs with BTPKD was compared with that in dogs without BTPKD.
Results Nineteen of these 99 dogs were diagnosed with BTPKD. Forty‐two percent of Bull Terriers with BTPKD and 28% of those without BTPKD had murmurs characteristic of mitral regurgitation or LVOTO. How recently an animal was descended from an ancestor with BTPKD was associated with presence (P = 0.008) and loudness of a murmur (P = 0.009). Overall, echocardiography detected MVD in 39% of Bull Terriers, with increased prevalence in older animals (P = 0.003). Mitral stenosis was found in eight cases. Fifty‐three percent of dogs in this study had evidence of LVOTO, with obstruction consisting of a complex of lesions including dynamic or fixed subvalvular LVOTO, significantly narrowed left ventricular outflow tract or valvular aortic stenosis. Dogs with BTPKD, or those descended from dogs with BTPKD, were more likely to have MVD (P = 0.006), and while LVOTO was not more common in these dogs, if they did have LVOTO, they were more likely to have severe obstruction than dogs with no ancestors with BTPKD (analysed in three ways P = 0.028 to 0.001). In this study, 46% of Bull Terriers without a murmur or arrhythmia had cardiac disease detected on echocardiographic examination.
Conclusion Cardiac disease, especially MVD and LVOTO, was common in Bull Terriers in this study, and those with BTPKD had an increased risk of cardiac abnormalities. Auscultation did not detect a significant number of Bull Terriers with cardiac disease.