Alessandra Franchini, J. Abbott, W. Tyrrell, S. Rosenthal, Sunshine Lahmers, Giulio Menciotti, S. Crosara, J. Häggström, and Michele Borgarelli have published "Predictors of reoccurrence of congestive signs within 180 days after successful treatment of the first episode of congestive heart failure in dogs with myxomatous mitral valve disease" in the Journal of Veterinary Cardiology.

Myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) is the most common cause of left-sided congestive heart failure in dogs. The researchers sought to identify predictors of first reoccurrence of congestive signs (CS) within 180 days in dogs with MMVD and clinically stable heart failure. This study failed to identify accurate predictors of reoccurrence of CS. However, dogs with larger value of left ventricular internal diameter at end-diastole are more likely to have reoccurrence of CS within 180 days.

Franchini is a Ph.D. candidate in small animal medicine and surgery, Abbott is a former associate professor of cardiology, Tyrrell is a 1992 graduate of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program, Lahmers is clinical associate professor of cardiology, Menciotti is assistant professor of cardiology, and Borgarelli, who directs the Comparative Cardiovascular Laboratory, is professor of cardiology in the college's Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences.