Radiographic measurement of vertebral heart size in healthy stray cats

Abstract

The aims of this study were to determine vertebral heart size (VHS) in stray cats and to compare different radiographic views. This study was performed on 50 adult stray cats. All cats were short-haired and non-obese and were considered to be healthy based on physical examination and electrocardiography. Left and right lateral, dorsoventral and ventrodorsal radiographs were taken. The long and short axes of the heart were measured in millimetres. The thoracic vertebral length spanned by each dimension was measured caudally from the fourth thoracic vertebra. Mean+/-SD and the correlation coefficient between the measurements were calculated with standard statistical software. The sum of the long and short axes of the heart expressed as VHS was 7.3+/-0.49 vertebrae in right lateral, 7.3+/-0.55 vertebrae in left lateral, 7.5+/-0.68 vertebrae in dorsoventral and 7.5+/-0.53 vertebrae in ventrodorsal. The differences between right and left lateral as well as dorsoventral and ventrodorsal views were not significant (P>0.05). Absolute measurements and vertebral heart scale values were slightly smaller than those reported in the literature for mixed population of cats. It is, therefore, important to take the breed in to account.

Radiographic measurements related with the cardiac size in young female Bergamasca sheep

“…Radiographic abnormalities of the cardiac silhouette, however, are only detected if normal parameters are known and, to this end, abundant studies related to the radiographic assessment of the cardiac size have been performed in several species, including cats (Lord & Zontine 1977, Litster & Buchanan 2000a, Litster & Buchanan 2000b, Ghadiri et al 2008, dogs (Lehmkuhl et al 1997, Lamb et al 2001, Bavegems et al 2005, Hansson et al 2005, Marin et al 2007, Spasojević-Kosić et al 2007, Kraetschmer et al 2008, ferrets (Stepien et al 1999), llamas (Mattoon et al 2001), psittacines (Straub et al 2002), cattle (Jilintai et al 2006), monkeys (Harada et al 2009), rabbits (Onuma et al 2010) and alpacas (Nelson et al 2011).…”

Thoracic and heart biometrics of non-anesthetized agouti (Dasyprocta primnolopha Wagler, 1831) measured on radiographic images

“…Many studies have shown that VHS makes an important contribution in determining alterations in heart size in domestic species such as dogs and cats (Ghadiri et al 2008, Leal et al 2005. However, the use of these and other measuring techniques is still little understood to identify alterations in the heart anatomic conformation among wild species (Gardner et al 2007, Estrada et al 2009, Black et al 2011.…”

The Effect of Dexmedetomidine on Radiographic Cardiac Silhouette Size in Healthy Cats

“…Vertebral heart scores also were calculated on right lateral projections in this study and compared to previously published reference intervals that were based on left lateral projections . This difference is expected to be of minimal importance, as a study evaluating vertebral heart scores in healthy stray cats found no significant difference in scores between right and left lateral projections . Vertebral heart scores were also rounded to the nearest quarter vertebral length in our study, as opposed to the nearest tenth of a vertebral body length, which could have resulted in reduced sensitivity.…”

“…Vertebral heart scores were calculated on left lateral, ventrodorsal, and dorsoventral projections as previously described and for measurements occupying a part of a vertebral length, measurements were rounded up to the nearest quarter vertebral length (based on the effect size chosen). A vertebral heart score also was calculated for the right lateral projection in the same manner as has been described for the left lateral projection . For all methods, an effort was made to exclude the pericardial fat when cardiac size was evaluated.…”