Conclusions
Diagnosis of disease is informed by patient symptoms, family history, medical testing, and in some cases genetic testing [135-137]. With greater understanding of disease progression, these aspects can be more accurately assessed and give earlier accurate diagnoses [87].
Early diagnosis can enable early treatment, which can result in improved outcomes compared to patients diagnosed later in the disease course [87, 92, 138]. Screening for disease prior to the onset of symptoms can catch diseases at an early stage, but may not be useful or affordable for an entire population. Screening asymptomatic individuals can be recommended when there is an additional reason to suspect that an individual may develop disease, such as family/breed history of the disease or a genetic test result indicating susceptibility to disease [95, 96]. A positive genetic test result often does not fully predict disease development, but merely indicates that the individual has a genetic pre-disposition to developing the disease [139]. Thus, a positive genetic test result does not always result in direct medical intervention, yet it can lead to increased awareness of the disease and enrolment of the individual on a health monitoring programme [92, 96]. Not only can the dog be an excellent model, but lessons can also be learned from other species with DCM [61].Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge generous funding from the BBSRC University of Nottingham Doctoral Training Programme BB/J014508/1 and the School of Veterinary Medicine and S cience. We would also like to thank The Wellcome Trust, The Academy of Medical Sciences for INSPIRE research funding. Catrin Rutland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2009-4898.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Abbreviations
ACE Angiotensin-converting enzyme
AF Atrial fibrillation
CDCs Cardiosphere-derived stem cells
dATP Deoxyadenosine triphosphate
DCM Dilated cardiomyopathy
EF Ejection fraction
ECG Electrocardiograph
EDV End-diastolic volume
EDV-I End-diastolic volume indices
ESV End-systolic volume
ESV-I) End-systolic volumes indices
EPSS End point to septal separation
ESVC European Society of Veterinary Cardiology
SI Index of sphericity
IWH Irish Wolfhounds
LV Left ventricular
LVIDd Left ventricular end-diastolic internal diameter
LVIDs Left ventricular internal dimension during systole
NT-proBNP N-Terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide
OMIA Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals
RAAS Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system
SMOD Simpsons methods of discs
VEGF-B167 Vascular endothelial growth factor-B167 VPC Ventricular premature complexes