Case Report: Anesthetic management of two dogs with third-degree atrioventricular block undergoing elective non-cardiac surgery under temporary transvenous pacing

Abstract

Anesthesizing patients with severe bradycardia caused by conduction disturbances poses a substantial perioperative risk and requires immediate access to pacing and advanced hemodynamic support. Two dogs were presented with a third-degree atrioventricular block for elective non-cardiac surgery. During anesthesia, temporary transvenous pacing was instituted to provide rate control and enable rapid intervention in response to perioperative hemodynamic changes. Both dogs remained clinically stable and recovered without major peri- or postoperative complications. The temporary pacing device was successfully removed once the dogs were fully awake, without incident. These two cases suggest that temporary transvenous pacing may be a feasible bridging strategy to facilitate safe anesthetic management in selected dogs with third-degree atrioventricular block, when performed by experienced personnel under continuous monitoring.