Study of electrocardiographic changes found in dogs subjected to sedation with acepromazine or dexmedetomidine associated with meperidine or methadone

• Grant number: 20/04918-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2020
• End date: July 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Clinics and Surgery
• Principal Investigator: Silvia Renata Gaido Cortopassi
• Grantee: Victor Diniz Cabral
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Pre-anesthetic medication aims to promote sedation and analgesia to different degrees, as well as to decrease the doses of general anesthetics used in the trans-surgical period. However, according to the literature, relevant cardiovascular changes are reported during preoperative preparation. Thus, this study aims to verify the main electrocardiographic changes in dogs submitted to sedation with acepromazine or dexmedetomidine associated with meperidine or methadone. For this purpose, 40 dogs from the Anesthesia Service of the Surgery Department of FMVZ - USP will be selected, classified as ASA I or ASA II, which will be distributed in four groups of 10 dogs each, with different drug associations, namely: ACPMEP group (acepromazine [0.03mg / kg] with meperidine [4mg / kg]), ACPMET group (acepromazine [0.03mg / kg) with methadone [0.2mg / kg], DEXMEP group (dexmedetomidine [125mcg / m2] with meperidine [4mg / kg]) and DEXMET group (dexmedetomidine [125mcg / m2] with methadone [0.2mg / kg]). The selected animals will be submitted to electrocardiographic examination, both before and after the administration of the drugs. The data will be analyzed with the aid of the Mann-Whitney test in the comparison of the groups in the variables without normal distribution. The Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test will be used to analyze the differences between categorical variable proportions. The level of significance established will be 5% (p <0.05).