How diarrhoea affects the cardiovascular system

Diarrhoea is a commonly encountered ailment in veterinary emergency practice. Gastrointestinal disease can have effects on other body systems, including the cardiovascular system, where it can both directly damage the heart muscle cells as well as affecting their ability to rhythmically contract and relax.

This study aims to assess the effect that diarrhoea in dogs has on their cardiovascular system by visually assessing for heart pathology using ultrasound, and by measurement of cardiac specific biomarkers in the blood.

The study will also be looking at how these changes correspond to some of the different causes and patterns of diarrhoea.

The aim is to help vets in general practice to understand the effects of diarrhoea on the heart in order to diagnose and treat their patients most effectively, helping them to recover more quickly and reducing the number of patient deaths. Furthermore, this information may help to provide further information of patient prognosis so we better inform our pet owners and to aid our clinical decision making.