AVA Conference Adelaide 2016

Electrocardiography (ECG) is used to examine the electrical activity of the heart. Portable ECG devices are now readily available for veterinary practitioners to use in the field. The acquisition of good quality traces is important to enable a correct diagnosis, especially during exercise when artifacts are common. Arrhythmias are a frequent finding in horses and may be physiological or pathological in nature. Vagally-induced, physiological arrhythmias may occur at rest and immediately after exercise. It is important to differentiate these from abnormal cardiac rhythms that may be of clinical significance because they can cause poor performance or predispose to collapse and / or sudden death. This presentation will explain how to successfully record and interpret ECGs in the horse, both at rest and during exercise