; Gaber, C.E. Please note that many of the page functionalities won't work as expected without javascript enabled. The results of the present study suggest that, even though pregnancy represents a cause of physiological maternal volume overload [. Kono, T.; Sabbah, H.N. ; Camacho, A.A. Cardiac parameters during the estrous cycle of canine bitches. ; Peres, R.; Sousa, M.G. Schannwell, C.; Zimmermann, T.; Schneppenhein, M.; Plehn, G.; Marx, R.; Strauer, B.E. (This article belongs to the Special Issue. ; Benedetti, T.J.; Schmucker, B.C. Control mechanisms for physiological hypertrophy of pregnancy. Baumert, M.; Seeck, A.; Faber, R.; Nalivaiko, E.; Voss, A. Longitudinal changes in QT interval variability and rate adaptation in pregnancies with normal and abnormal uterine perfusion. bitch; cardiac function; echocardiography; Great Dane; pregnancy. Owners informed consent on the whole procedure was obtained. Abbott, J.A. Feature Papers represent the most advanced research with significant potential for high impact in the field. Am. published in the various research areas of the journal. those of the individual authors and contributors and not of the publisher and the editor(s). Changes of the ultrasonographic parameters along pregnancy were statistically evaluated by ANOVA repeated measures and the Tukeys Honestly Significant Difference (HSD) test. The M-mode parameters included: left ventricular internal dimensions in systole (LVs) and diastole (LVd), obtained from a right parasternal short axis view at the papillary muscles, and end-point-septal-separation (EPSS), from a right parasternal short axis view at the mitral valve [, A simultaneous electrocardiogram recording was gathered while performing echocardiographic measurements [, Each parameter was measured three times, from consecutive cycles acquired by the operator; the mean value obtained from the three measurements was then used in the statistical analysis for each parameter referring to each enrolled patient [, The normality distribution of all the echocardiographic parameters was verified by the ShapiroWilk test and data are presented as mean standard deviation. This type of The study enrolled nine healthy Great Dane bitches (2.5 to 4 years). Novelli, G.P. Kirberger, R.M. Williams, J.G. Screening for dilated cardiomyopathy in Great Danes in the United Kingdom. They were represented by blood progesterone concentrations (MiniVidas, BioMerieux) measured during heat [, Together with cardiac health, a requisite for the inclusion in the present study was an uncomplicated pregnancy. Stephenson, H.M.; Fonfare, S.; Lopez-Alvarez, J.; Cripps, P.; Dukes-McEwan, J. ; Nett, T.M. Arbeiter, K. Anovulatory ovarian cycles in dogs. ; Flagstad, A. M-mode echocardiographic diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy in giant breed dogs. ; Moodley, J.; Naidoo, D.P. Canine dilated cardiomyopathy: A retrospective study of prognostic findings in 367 clinical cases. ; Battocchio, M.; Marinelli, L.; FAUSTINI, M.; Kindahl, H.; Cairoli, F. Correlations among body temperature, plasma progesterone, cortisol and prostaglandin F2 of the periparturient bitch. Martin, M.W.S. and S.A.; methodology, M.M., I.S., and S.A.; formal analysis, M.M., I.S., and S.A.; investigation, all authors; data curation, M.M., I.S., and S.A.; writingoriginal draft preparation, M.M., I.S., and S.A.; writingreview and editing, M.M., I.S., and S.A. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Ljungvall, I.; Hoglund, K.; Carnabuci, C.; Tidholm, A.; Hggstrm, J. Badke, F.R. Echocardiographic assessment of cardiovascular hemodynamics in normal pregnancy. several techniques or approaches, or a comprehensive review paper with concise and precise updates on the latest [. Early changes in left ventricular regional dimensions and function during chronic volume overloading in the conscious dog. Lvy, X.; Fontbonne, A. Ph.D. Thesis, Universit degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy, 2016. Procedures with animals were performed following good veterinary practice for animal welfare according to the Italian legislation on animal care (DL 116, 27/01/1992) and the European Guidelines on Animal Welfare (Directive 2010/63/EU). Changes in echocardiographic variables of left ventricular size and function in a model of canine normovolemic anemia. Consequently, cardiac morpho-functional changes are expected. ; Stafford Johnson, M.J.; Strehlau, G.; King, J.N. Evaluated parameters were: LV dimension in diastole (LVd) and systole (LVs), end-diastolic (EDVI) and end-systolic (ESVI) volumes indexed to body surface area (BSA), end-diastolic (EDV) and end-systolic (ESV), end-point-septal-separation (EPSS), left atrium to aortic root ratio (LA/Ao), sphericity index (SI), ejection fraction (EF), fractional shortening (FS), stroke volume (SV), heart rate (HR), and cardiac output (CO). Pregnancy is associated with adaptation of the left ventricular (LV) function. All of the bitches were proven to be clinically healthy; systolic blood pressure was within reference ranges and no murmurs were detected during auscultation; the echocardiographic exam displayed left ventricular size, function, and Doppler parameters within reference ranges for breed and weight [, For breeding management, the day of ovulation was considered when the serum progesterone concentration ranged between 410 ng/mL [, The day of parturition was estimated on the basis of several cumulative parameters. A longitudinal study of cardiac output in normal human pregnancy. Olsson, K.; Lagerstedt, A.S.; Bergstrm, A.; Hggstrm, J. Several studies in pregnant women have demonstrated that hemodynamic adaptations to gestation reversibly affect maternal echocardiographic variables [, The cardiac adaptation to pregnancy was investigated in some species. Thus, the assessment of the maternal cardiovascular function may be a useful screening tool to detect pregnancy complications in dogs. ; Bednarz, J.; Devereux, R.; Gardin, J.; Klein, A.; Manning, W.J. articles published under an open access Creative Common CC BY license, any part of the article may be reused without ; Thompson, P.N. Nagueh, S.F. Morrison, S.A.; Moise, N.S. ; Luvoni, G.C. Change of diurnal heart rate patterns during pregnancy and lactation in dogs (. Blanco, P.G. You are accessing a machine-readable page. permission is required to reuse all or part of the article published by MDPI, including figures and tables. ; Gillebert, T.C. ; Valensise, H.; Vasapollo, B.; Larciprete, G.; Altomare, F.; Di Pierro, G.; Casalino, B.; Galante, A.; Arduini, D. Left ventricular concentric geometry as a risk factor in gestational hypertension. ; Pellikka, P.A. The latter definition includes: successful delivery of full term puppies; absence of embryonic or perinatal death and stillbirth; normal-weighted puppies; absence of any maternal disorder of the reproductive sphere (i.e., pre-eclampsia, intra-uterine growth restriction, placental abruption) [, Standard echocardiographic M-mode and B-mode data [, For the ultrasonographic evaluation, dogs were gently restrained in lateral recumbency. Cardiac morphology and function in pregnant bitches that would develop complications may differ from those with a normal outcome. Authors are grateful to Laura Colombi, certified translator for English language, for linguistic support. Few studies investigated the cardiac maternal adaptation in different gestational ages in dogs. Olsson, K.; Hansson, A.; Hydbring, E.; von Walter, L.W. ; Rincon-Skinner, T.; Sun, D.; Wang, Z.; Zhang, S.; Zhang, X.; Hintze, T.H. Wess, G.; Domenech, O.; Dukes-McEwan, J.; Hggstrm, J.; Gordon, S. European Society of Veterinary Cardiology screening guidelines for dilated cardiomyopathy in Doberman Pinschers. Feto-maternal heart rate ratio in pregnant bitches: Effect of gestational age and maternal bodyweight. Wess, G.; Maurer, J.; Simak, J.; Hartmann, K. Use of Simpsons Method of Disc to Detect Early Echocardiographic Changes in Doberman Pinschers with Dilated Cardiomyopathy. Visit our dedicated information section to learn more about MDPI. The Feature Paper can be either an original research article, a substantial novel research study that often involves For No sedation was required. In order to be human-readable, please install an RSS reader. Ambulatorio Veterinario Il Melograno, Sesto Calende, 21018 Varese, Italy. The present study was performed in accordance with the ethical guidelines of the animal welfare committee. ; Koma, L.M. ; Kono, T.; Rosman, H.; Jafri, S.; Stein, P.D. ; Haggstrom, J. ; Evangelisa, A. Due to differences between breeds in baseline echocardiographic values and specific predispositions for myocardial diseases, breed-specific echocardiographic parameters may be helpful to evaluate whether the systolic function varies during pregnancy. interesting to authors, or important in this field. Physiol. Pregnancy management in the bitch. Results were considered significant for, All of the nine healthy bitches first enrolled in the study successfully delivered full term puppies with no gestational complications. ; Kaplan, P.M.; Lombard, C.W. Mitral valve E point to ventricular septal separation in the dog. Feature Their clinical reports are summarized in, The functional parameters (FS, EF, CO, SV, and HR) significantly increased at T1 (, At both time points, all of the echocardiographic parameters taken into account in the present study remained within the reference ranges reported for normality in the Great Dane breed (. BSA = body surface area. Due to the breed predisposition to develop DCM, all of the bitches underwent an echocardiographic screening exam and Holter monitoring before being enrolled in the study. Veronesi, M.C. Conceptualization, M.M., I.S. Reproductive endocrinology and physiology of the bitch and queen. In Proceedings of the 16th European Veterinary Society Small Animal Reproduction (EVSSAR) Congress, Toulouse, France, 56 July 2013; p. 135. For these purposes, due to possible breed-related variations in the cardiac parameters and function, to the predisposition for myocardial diseases, and to the challenges in identifying subclinical statuses, it may be useful to evaluate echocardiographic changes along pregnancy in healthy Great Dane bitches having a normal pregnancy. ; Waggoner, A.D.; Flachskampf, F.A. ; Marciniak, M.; Karu, T.; Baltabaeva, A.; Merli, E.; Bijnens, B.; Jahangiri, M. Changes in systolic left ventricular function in isolated mitral regurgitation. Echocardiographic M-mode and B-mode data were collected before ovulation and within 7 days of the predicted parturition term. Thomas, W.P. MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. American Society of Echocardiography recommendations for use of echocardiography in clinical trials. ; Gobello, C. Electrocardiographic changes in normal and abnormal canine pregnancy. Lee, B.H. Editors select a small number of articles recently published in the journal that they believe will be particularly Chastant-Maillard, S.; Guillemot, C.; Feugier, A.; Mariani, C.; Grellet, A.; Mila, H. Reproductive performance and pre-weaning mortality: Preliminary analysis of 27,221 purebred female dogs and 204,537 puppies in France. permission provided that the original article is clearly cited. The aim is to provide a snapshot of some of the most exciting work ; Sibai, B.M. ; Gmeza, F.E. ; Hohimer, A.R. Mabie, W.C.; Di Sessa, T.; Crocker, L.G. Klser, L.; Holler, P.J. Calvert, C.A. ; Morehead, A.; Kitzman, D.; Oh, J.; Quinones, M.; et al. In goats, for instance, gestation led to an increase in heart rate and cardiac output, while the chamber morphology and systolic function did not vary [, Several studies investigated cardiac maternal adaptation in different gestational ages in dogs, but, in comparison to women, only little information is available on morphological and functional echocardiographic parameters during pregnancy, sometimes with controversial conclusions [, Breed-specific echocardiographic reference values have been published in healthy Great Dane dogs [, Finally, since the maternal cardiac adaptation during gestation plays a major role in uterine perfusion to support fetal development, the characterization and understanding of the maternal cardiac function during pregnancy is clinically important to recognize possible complications, from both the cardiac and obstetric point of view. Gottdiener, J.S. Evaluation of a novel Doppler index of combined systolic and diastolic myocardial performance in Newfoundland dogs with familial prevalence of dilated cardiomyopathy. Desai, D.K. In women, as well as in bitches, pregnancy is associated with the adaptation of the left ventricular function. ; Marino, P.N. Recommendations for standards in transthoracic two-dimensional echocardiography in the dog and cat. ; Dukes-McEwan, J.; French, A.T.; Corcoran, B.M. 13191350. Koch, J.; Pedersen, H.D. ; Goldstein, S. Left ventricular shape: A factor in the etiology of functional mitral regurgitation in heart failure. [. Please let us know what you think of our products and services. Prediction of whelping date in large and giant canine breeds by ultrasonography foetal biometry. Marciniak, A.; Claus, P.; Sutherland, G.R. ; Miller, D.B. Papers are submitted upon individual invitation or recommendation by the scientific editors and undergo peer review Subscribe to receive issue release notifications and newsletters from MDPI journals, You can make submissions to other journals. ; Jacobs, G.J. [. Determining the optimal time of mating in bitches: Particularities. Alonge, S. Ultrasonographic Features of the Canine Pregnancy with Special Reference to Fetal Development and Health. Effect of breed and body weight on echocardiographic values in four breeds of dogs of differing somatotype. Ward, J.; Mochel, J.P.; Seo, Y.J. All articles published by MDPI are made immediately available worldwide under an open access license. A strain rate imaging study. SD = standard deviation. Lobo, L.; Salazar, L.; Oliveira, P.; Pereira, A.; Fontes-Sousa, A.P.