Myocardial Disease: Prevalence, Detection, and Diversity

Feline myocardial disease is prevalent in the domestic cat and historically has been under-diagnosed due to the limitations of available diagnostics to detect occult disease. In this lecture we will discuss the utility of available diagnostic tools to detect occult feline myocardial disease and highlight the shortfalls of historic screening methods. Review of the surprising diversity of feline myocardial disease and the importance of echocardiographic diagnosis to guide therapy will also be discussed.

In this webinar attendees will:

• Assess the current understanding of the prevalence of feline myocardial disease.
• Discuss the utility of available screening tools and shortfalls of historical screening methods:
• Auscultation
• Thoracic Radiographs
• Biomarkers – Specifically NT-proBNP
• Briefly review the diversity of myocardial disease and widely diverging approaches to medical management.
• Highlight the importance of detection of affected individuals in order to manage appropriately and optimize outcomes.

Speaker Bio

Neal K. Peckens, DVM, DACVIM (Cardiology) 

Dr. Peckens earned his bachelor's degree in biology from St. Mary's College of Maryland and subsequently graduated with honors from Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. He completed a rotating emergency/specialty medicine internship with SouthPaws Veterinary Specialists & Emergency and then went on to practice as an emergency clinician at the Animal Emergency and Critical Care Associates at The LifeCentre of Leesburg, VA prior to joining and completing his residency with CVCA – Cardiac Care for Pets. Currently he is a practicing cardiologist with CVCA and acting resident mentor. Dr. Peckens' professional interests include the early detection and treatment of feline cardiomyopathy, diastology, and minimally invasive interventional catheterization procedures.

RACE Credits 

This program 249-30493 is approved by the AAVSB RACE to offer a total of 1.00 CE Credits (1.00 max) being available to any one veterinarian: and/or 1.00 Veterinary Technician CE Credits (1.00 max). This RACE approval is for the subject matter categorie(s) of: Scientific using the delivery method(s) of: Interactive-Distance. This approval is valid in jurisdictions which recognize AAVSB RACE; however, participants are responsible for ascertaining each board's CE requirements.

Disclosure Statement

This webinar is sponsored by IDEXX. Speakers are expected to disclose conflict of interests whenever a conflict arises relating to the topics of this educational webinar.

Dr. Peckens reports no conflict of interest to disclose.