Comprehensive arrhythmia analysis in telemetered non-human primates

The purpose of this study was to determine the normal frequency of arrhythmias in a colony of telemetered cynomolgus monkeys, since there is a data gap in background arrhythmias in this species. To conduct this analysis, continuous ECG data (24 hr) were recorded from 18 telemetry-instrumented monkeys on 3 separate days, over an 8 day period. For each animal, an arrhythmia waveform library was manually created, then applied to the waveform file using EMKA ecgAuto, a pattern recognition-based software application. On day 1, 8/18 monkeys showed at least 1 premature ventricular contraction (PVC; range: 1-12), with 2/18 showing 1 incidence of supraventricular premature complexes (SPC). On day 4, a similar pattern emerged: 5/18 monkeys showed at least 1 PVC (range: 1-12) and 3/18 had 1 incidence of SPC. On day 8, 7/18 NHP displayed at least 1 PVC and 1/18 had a SPC. Other arrhythmias were noted sporadically: right bundle branch block, wandering pacemaker, SA node pause. The pattern of arrhythmia was relatively consistent in each NHP.