This Mini Series is tailored towards Advanced Practitioners and those studying towards Advanced Practitioner status.

• Join Nuala Summerfield BSc BVM&S DipACVIM(Cardiology) DipECVIM-CA(Cardiology) MRCVS for three 2-hour online sessions and enhance and update your understanding of small animal cardiology
• Comprehensive notes to downloaded
• Self-assessment quizzes to ‘release’ your 8 hours CPD certification (don’t worry, you can take them more than once if you don’t quite hit the mark first time)
• A whole year’s access to recorded sessions for reviewing key points.
• Superb value for money – learn without travelling
• Watch the recordings on your PC, Smartphone or iPad
• This Mini Series was originally broadcast in February 2016.

Programme

Mechanisms of Cardiac Arrhythmias Made Easy

In recent years there have been important advances in the understanding of the electrophysiologic mechanisms underlying the development of a variety of cardiac arrhythmias in humans. These electrophysiologic mechanisms also appear to underlie the cardiac arrhythmias we encounter in canine and feline patients presenting for cardiac arrhythmia assessment. This session will provide a comprehensive overview of the basic mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmia i.e. enhanced or abnormal impulse formation (focal activity) and conduction disturbances (reentry). Importantly, this session will serve as the foundation for session 2 of this Mini Series.

Tackling Challenging ECGs

Recent studies have shown that specific ECG criteria used routinely to help diagnose the more complex arrhythmias in humans are also applicable to our canine and feline patients. These surface ECG criteria can greatly assist the veterinary practitioner in the diagnosis of challenging arrhythmias, particularly supraventricular tachyarrhythmias, as well as guiding the choice of appropriate therapy. This session will be illustrated with lots of practical ECG examples.

At the end of Sessions 1 and 2 you will:

• Have a clearer understanding of the basic cardiac arrhythmia mechanisms
• Be aware of the key surface ECG features that relate to these arrhythmia mechanisms (both supraventricular and ventricular)
• Be able to apply this knowledge to clinical ECG examples
• Feel more confident in the interpretation of complex cardiac rhythm disturbances encountered in canine and feline patients

Mechanisms and Management of Diuretic Resistance

The use of loop diuretics to resolve fluid retention and congestion is a cornerstone of heart failure therapy in our canine and feline patients. In the treatment of more advanced stages of heart failure, diuretics may fail to control salt and water retention despite the use of appropriate doses. Resistance to loop diuretics is an under-recognised phenomenon in veterinary medicine that is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Treatment with a loop diuretic results in compensatory hypertrophy of epithelial cells downstream from the thick ascending limb and consequently its diuretic effect will be blunted. Ih this session we’ll discuss strategies to try to overcome diuretic resistance in canine and feline chronic heart failure patients.

At the end of this session you will be able to:

• Understand the definition of diuretic resistance
• Understand the various mechanisms of diuretic resistance
• Understand the clinical importance of evaluating response to diuretic dose in an individual patient to ensure optimal diuretic usage
• Be aware of management strategies to try to avoid diuretic resistance