Tpeak—Tend, a novel electrocardiographic marker in cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy—a brief communication

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common heart disease in feline species. ECG allows assessing parameters that can help in the diagnosis and risk stratification of conditions that occur secondary to this disease. This study aimed to evaluate electrocardiographic markers Tpte and Tpte/QT in leads I, II, III, aVR, aVL and aVF in control and HCM cats. Data were obtained from 63 domestic cats allocated in a Control (n = 40) and an HCM (n = 23) group. Tpte and Tpte/QT of all individuals were measured in all limb leads (I, II, III, aVR, aVL, aVF). We constructed ROC curves to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of markers to identify HCM-affected cats. Logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the risks of cats having HCM based on Tpte indexes. Tpte in leads II (p < 0.01), aVR (p < 0.01), aVL (p < 0.01), and aVF (p < 0.01) had significantly higher results in the HCM group. Tpte/QT showed no statistical difference between groups in any of the derivations evaluated. A Tpte > 27.5ms in lead aVF showed an accuracy of 83.3% to identify individuals with HCM in our study. Univariable logistic regression reveals that cats with Tpte in aVR and aVF > 27.5ms and in aVL > 26.5ms had 1.28, 12 and 1.16 respectively, more chances of having HCM. The prolongation of Tpte may be a noninvasive electrocardiographic complementary tool to help differentiate patients with and without hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.