News and Announcements
ProBNP: Human Cardiac Screening Test Offers Early Detection of Heart Disease in Dogs and Cats
Our pets are living longer
than ever thanks to preventative medicine! With a greater percentage
of pets living up to four times longer we have seen a dramatic growth
in the number or heart disease cases over the past few decades. Studies
have found that the risk of heart disease in dogs increases dramatically
with age. Up to 15% of younger dogs have heart disease, with that rate
further increasing to above 60% in aged dogs. (1,2)
Diagnosing cardiac disease in cats can be especially difficult. Cats
often have few, if any, clinical signs and thoracic auscultation (listening
with a stethoscope) is normal in 30% of cats with heart disease. (3)
Early detection of
heart disease is critical to helping us increase the longevity and quality
of life for our pets. We now have new tool to help us in this battle.
Cardiopet proBNP test is a noninvasive blood test that measures NTproBNP,
a peptide that is stored as a "Prohormone" or a hormone precursor and
is released as the chambers of the heart are stretched excessively.
Excessive stretching of the heart chambers is a result of heart disease,
most commonly mitral valve disease or cardiomyopathy in dogs and hypertropic
cardiomyopathy in cats. As heart disease progresses, the chambers become
more stretched and the BNP is released in greater quantities.
The Cardiopet ProBNP test enables us to quantitatively track cardiac disease progression and make judgments about the condition of the heart in order to determine the appropriate course of action. This noninvasive blood test we hope will be instrumental in allowing us to screen pets for early signs of heart disease.
1. Edmonton MH. School of Veterinary Medicine Offers Cardiology Services. LSU Today. 2002; 18(40). 2. Rush JE. Chronic Valvular Heart Disease in Dogs. Proceedings from: 26th Annual Waltham Diets/OSU Symposium for the Treatment of Small Animal Cardiology; October 19-20, 2002. 3. Paige, CF. Prevalence of Cardiomyopathy in Apparently Healthy Cats. Proc. 24th ACVIM Forum 2006.Pet News - Archives
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