Degenerative valve disease in dogs: update on diagnosis, treatment and prognosis

Degenerative valve disease is the main cardiovascular abnormality in dogs. This injury consists of microscopic lesions of the valve, due to mucopolysaccharide infiltration in the extracellular matrix of the leaflets and chordae tendineae, causing regurgitation of blood into the atria. The resulting decrease in cardiac output activates neurohormonal mechanisms that cause adverse ventricular remodeling, often times accompanied of clinical signs and death. An international group of internal-medicine experts has proposed new guidelines for diagnosis and appropriate treatment of the disease. This paper consists of a critical review of that proposal, contextualizing it for the Colombian conditions, according to the experience of the author.