Echocardiographic and Doppler assessment of maternal cardiovascular function in normal and abnormal canine pregnancies

BLANCO PG; BATISTA PR; GÓMEZ FE; ARIAS DO; GOBELLO C

THERIOGENOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC

Año: 2012 vol. 78 p. 1235 - 1242

0093-691X

The aim of this study was to verify maternal hemodynamic differences between normal and abnormal pregnancy in dogs. Thirty-one, Brucella-negative pregnant bitches were retrospectively classified into abnormal (which had either interrupted their pregnancy between Day 52 - 60 or had perinatal death higher than 50% of the litter; n = 14) and normal (which had delivered healthy puppies at term; n = 17). The dogs were evaluated with echocardiography every 10 days from Day 0 to 60 of gestation. Systolic blood pressure was also assessed. At Day 50 of gestation, left ventricular free wall in systole increased in the normal but not in the abnormal group (P < 0.01). In contrast, end systolic stress (P < 0.01) and systolic blood pressure (P < 0.01) diminished only in the normal animals. It was concluded that the signs of altered maternal cardiovascular adaptation to pregnancy may become predictors of obstetric complications in dogs.