The Animal Heartbeat: our favourite papers of 2025

Message our hosts, Kieran and Jose.This week, our hosts Jose and Kieran bring you a discussion of their favourite scientific papers published in 2025. If you are interested in what science influences the cardiology specialists, then listen in for our thoughts on three manuscripts that contain data crucial to veterinary cardiology today.Links to the papers, if you wanted to read along:https://doi.org/10.1111/jvim.70152Risk calculator: https://shimon-furusato.shinyapps.io/prediction_model_for_canine_mitralvalverepair/https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0325695https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2505927

Message our hosts, Kieran and Jose.Season 3 of The Animal Heartbeat is all about the Veterinary Cardiology Icons - those who walk among us as legends of the veterinary cardiology world.In Episode 7 of the Icons series, Prof John Bonagura joins our hosts, Jose and Kieran, to discuss how we can advance our echocardiographic skills in animals. Echocardiography is a fundamental tool for clinicians and researchers, something we use every day to infirm decision making for our patients. But is one echo the same as the next? Can we do better to improve our accuracy of diagnosis, and is there a role for standardised echo guidelines? John discusses his career spanning experience of echocardiography, from M-mode to speckle tracking techniques and using real-time 4D volumes, and updates us on the progress of the joint ACVIM-ASE guidelines for 2D echo in animals, upcoming in 2026.Listen with us as Dr Bonagura shares his perspectives and takes a deep-dive on echo for the veterinary cardiologist.

Message our hosts, Kieran and Jose.Season 3 of The Animal Heartbeat is all about the Veterinary Cardiology Icons - those who walk among us as legends of the veterinary cardiology world.In this episode, we welcome Prof Kate Meurs, Randall B. Terry Jr Dean of North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Prof Meurs has worked across the fields of clinical vet cardiology and genetics, and drove the research that led to the discovery of mutations associated with HCM in cats, DCM and ARVC in dogs, and arrhythmia-induced death in particular canine family lines. Her work has changed how we think about heart disease in companion animals, and may hold the key to future refinements in the care we provide for animals with heart disease.Listen to Prof Meurs' reflections on her groundbreaking work, and her thoughts on how we can best use genetic testing to help maximise animal wellbeing in the clinic.

Message our hosts, Kieran and Jose.Season 3 of The Animal Heartbeat is all about the Veterinary Cardiology Icons - those who walk among us as legends of the veterinary cardiology world.This fifth edition of the Icons series features Mike Martin, RCVS Diplomate in Veterinary Cardiology who founded the first private cardiology specialist practice in the UK and pioneered cardiac interventions in Europe. Mike learned from human paediatric cardiologists and refined the skillset of his team to become a world-leader in canine cardiac minimally invasive surgery.Over recent years, Mike has developed a strategy for the training of interventional procedures in the UK and abroad, and has developed a particular interest in clinical audit techniques to improve patient safety.Join our hosts, Jose and Kieran, as they discuss Mike's experience of how best to develop a new interventional centre, and why we should be using a centralised audit process to help improve patient safety in cardiac surgery.

Message our hosts, Kieran and Jose.Season 3 of The Animal Heartbeat is all about the Veterinary Cardiology Icons - those who walk among us as legends of the veterinary cardiology world.This episode features Professor Robert Hamlin, of The Ohio State University, Stanton Youngberg Professor Emeritus in Cardiology, and Principal Scientist at Q-Test Labs. Prof Hamlin qualified as a veterinarian in 1958. As one of the founders of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, he has helped to shape the profession as we know it, particularly the realm of veterinary specialty. He is widely known for his knowledge and clinical application of cardiovascular physiology cross-species, and he continues to work actively in the field, teaching and inspiring the next generation of veterinary clinicians.Join our hosts, Kieran and Jose, as they discuss Prof Hamlin's perspectives on veterinary cardiology over more than 65 years of experience, a true legend in his field.

Message our hosts, Kieran and Jose.Season 3 of The Animal Heartbeat is all about the Veterinary Cardiology Icons - those who walk among us as legends of the veterinary cardiology world.This episode features Dr Philip Fox, of The Animal Medical Center NY, Chair of the Caspary Research Institute and Service Lead in Cardiology. Dr Fox is well-known for his groundbreaking work on feline cardiomyopathy, first publishing on HCM as an animal model of human disease thirty years ago. His ongoing work on various cardiomyopathy phenotypes and their pathogenesis continues to shape our understanding of feline heart disease. What are Dr Fox's reflections on his work now, and has he changed the way he thinks about feline cardiopathy in 2025?Join our hosts, Kieran and Jose, as they discuss feline cardiomyopathy with a legend in the field.

Message our hosts, Kieran and Jose.Season 3 of The Animal Heartbeat is all about the Veterinary Cardiology Icons - those who walk among us as legends of the veterinary cardiology world.This episode features Professor Chris Orton of Colorado State University. Prof Orton has been a leader in the field of canine heart surgery for over thirty years, having worked to develop both open heart surgery techniques on cardiopulmonary bypass and minimally invasive techniques to treat valve disease. Chris is known as a cardiologist and a surgeon, but also has a strong bench-top research background, evaluating the mitral valve and the mechanisms of degenerative disease.Join our hosts, Jose and Kieran, as they discuss Prof Orton's research experience and his experience over the last 3-years of trans-catheter edge-to-edge mitral valve repair, patient considerations and outcomes.

Message our hosts, Kieran and Jose.Season 3 of The Animal Heartbeat is all about the Veterinary Cardiology Icons - those who walk among us as legends of the veterinary cardiology world.This episode features Professor Sydney Möise, of Cornell University, CV Starr Professor Emerita of Cardiology. Prof Möise's research and education output on cardiac arrhythmias has shaped how many of us think about electrical problems of the heart, and she has become known as a pioneer of ambulatory ECG assessment of heart rate variability. Her recent collaborations with Wyatt Flanders, her son, has given the veterinary cardiology world free access to dynamic and 3D Poincaré plots in dogs, broadening our understanding of conduction system disease in animals.Join our hosts, Kieran and Jose, as they discuss canine cardiac arrhythmias with a legend in their field.

Message our hosts, Kieran and Jose.Our Animal Heartbeat live panel discussion in 2025 covers the topic of artificial intelligence and its use in veterinary and human patients. Our panel review topics such as how to validate AI tools, where AI fits in current medicine and how opportunities for its use are evolving, and should we worry about AI?Our hosts Kieran and Jose are joined by a fantastic panel of guests:Professor Virginia Luis Fuentes; Professor of Veterinary Cardiology, Royal Veterinary CollegeProfessor Anurag Agarwal; Professor of Aeroacoustics, University of CambridgeDr Matthew Shun-Shin; Consultant Cardiologist, Imperial College LondonCatherine Stowell; Imperial College London and founder of The Animal Ultrasound AssociationThis episode was recorded live at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, as part of the 2025 Cambridge Festival of podcasts.

Message our hosts, Kieran and Jose.Join Kieran and Jose as guests of the Portuguese Society of Veterinary Cardiology 2025 Congress, where we reflect on the past two seasons of The Animal Heartbeat, and look forward to the upcoming season 3. Our hosts bring their top lessons from season 1 and 2 guests, including advice from Gerhard Wess, Claudio Bussadori and Josh Stern, in front of a live congress audience.