抄録
We investigated the assay reliability and clinical utility of plasma cardiac troponin-I (cTnI) measurements in dogs with heart disease. This retrospective clinical study enrolled dogs referred to two university veterinary teaching hospitals between 2005 and 2013. The study population consisted of 60 left-sided heart diseases, 9 pulmonic stenosis, and 16 non-heart diseases. Clinically healthy dogs were recruited from healthy beagles in the laboratory. All dogs underwent physical examination, echocardiography, thoracic radiography, and blood sampling before treatment. Plasma cTnI concentrations were determined by chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay. Intra-assay coefficient of variation (CV) was under 10%. Plasma cTnI concentrations showed an increase concomitant with the severity of volume overload. Plasma cTnI concentrations were significantly increased in the heart failure group as compared with the non-heart disease group. Using a plasma cTnI concentration>0.075 ng/ml to identify dogs with left-sided heart failure, resulted in a sensitivity of 75.0% and specificity of 80.6%. The area under the curve for plasma cTnI concentration measurements was 0.87. Plasma cTnI concentration in dogs with pulmonic stenosis was significantly higher than those of non-heart disease dogs. Using a plasma cTnI concentration>0.074 ng/ml to identify dogs with pulmonic stenosis, resulted in a sensitivity of 77.8% and specificity of 90.9%. The area under the curve for plasma cTnI concentration measurements was 0.93. Measurements of plasma cTnI concentrations have a clinical utility as an additional screening method to diagnose the severity of left-sided heart diseases and pulmonic stenosis.
