Current Recommendations for the Diagnosis And Management of Canine Myxomatous Mitral Valve Disease (MMVD)

This session covered the progression and management of mitral valve disease in dogs, detailing diagnostic and treatment strategies for each stage based on expert consensus and recent research, aimed at enhancing practical application for general practitioners.

1. Describe current evidence-based and consensus-driven recommendations for the diagnosis, staging, and medical management of canine myxomatous mitral valve disease.
2. Apply clinical findings and commonly used diagnostic tests to inform appropriate management and referral decisions for dogs with mitral valve disease in general practice.
3. Understand the basic concepts and clinical intent of emerging interventional therapies for canine mitral valve disease, including left atrial decompression and transcatheter edge-to-edge mitral valve repair (TEER).

Carl Toborowsky, MS, MA, VMD, DACVIM (Cardiology), FASE is a clinical assistant professor and service head of cardiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has a Master’s degree in Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics from the University of Missouri in St. Louis, and a Master’s degree in Primatology and Biological Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin. He completed his veterinary degree at the University of Pennsylvania, a small animal rotating internship at Friendship Hospital for Animals in Washington, DC, followed by a cardiology specialty internship at BluePearl in Southfield, Michigan. He completed his cardiology residency at the University of Georgia, and is board[1]certified by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) in the specialty of Cardiology. Dr. Toborowsky is one of a handful of veterinary cardiologists who is also a Fellow of the American Society of Echocardiography (FASE). His interests include interventional cardiology for both congenital and acquired cardiac diseases, novel therapies for the management of congestive heart failure, management of right-sided heart disease, pulmonary hypertension, mechanisms of overcoming diuretic resistance, and modulation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. Outside of the oSice, Dr. T enjoys making up stories to tell his unimpressed cats, playing music at least an hour every day, getting lost in new cities, cocktail making, trying new foods, and seeing live music.