Efficacy of pimobendan on survival and reoccurrence of pulmonary edema in canine congestive heart failure

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of pimobendan with conventional therapies on survival and reocurrence of pulmonary edema in dogs with congestive heart failure (CHF) caused by myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD). Records of 197 client-owned dogs from 14 veterinary hospitals were included in this study. Dogs were administered conventional treatments with or without pimobendan. Sixty-four dogs received a standard dose of pimobendan (0.20–0.48 mg/kg every 12 hr (q12hr)), 49 dogs received a low dose of pimobendan (0.05–0.19 mg/kg q12hr), and 84 dogs received conventional therapy alone. Dogs in the standard-dose and low-dose pimobendan groups had significantly longer median survival times than dogs in the conventional group (334, 277 and 136 days, respectively; P<0.001). The reoccurrence rate of pulmonary edema in the standard-dose group was significantly lower than in the low-dose and conventional groups (43%, 59% and 62%, respectively; P<0.05). Combination of pimobendan with a conventional treatment regimen significantly prolonged survival time after an initial episode of pulmonary edema in dogs with CHF caused by MMVD. There was no difference in survival between dogs administered standard and low doses of pimobendan, but pimobendan did prevent the reoccurrence of pulmonary edema in a dose-dependent manner.