Introduction

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is defined as persistent increase in pulmonary vasculature pressure and occurs as a primary or secondary disease.

Objectives

To evaluate retrospectively the prevalence and characteristics of PH in a random sample of 100 dogs from a database.

Methods

The database included 2123 dogs scanned in Hong Kong over a period of 2.5 years. PH was diagnosed from velocity of tricuspid regurgitant jet >2.8 m/s. Dogs were classified into different groups on the basis of their diagnoses. Age, breed, sex, and clinical signs have been compared among different groups. In dogs where follow up echocardiograms were available, success of PH therapy was evaluated.

Results

In the sample of 100 dogs there were 54 dogs diagnosed with PH; there were 40.7% of dogs with mild PH, 38.9% with moderate PH, and 20.4% with severe PH. In the random sample 60% of all mitral valve disease cases had PH (89% of Class B2 or C). PH was more common in male dogs. Among the dogs with PH there were 92.6% of small breed dogs. Most common breeds of dogs with PH were Shih Tzu and Pekingese. Most common clinical signs of dogs with PH were exercise intolerance, syncope, cough, and dyspnea/tachypnea. Dogs were treated for primary disease and pimobendan and/or sildenafil. Improvement of clinical signs and a decrease in pulmonary arterial pressure was observed in 76.2% of dogs with average decrease in pressure of 27%.

Conclusions

PH is common in Hong Kongese dogs.