猫の胸部X線検査における実測値による左心房拡大の評価

抄録

Radiographic variables for the diagnosis of left atrial enlargement (LAE) are usually normalized to total body size by comparison with vertebral body length. The present study investigated the diagnostic value of radiographic heart size, including parameters not normalized to vertebral body length, in the diagnosis of LAE in 89 healthy cats and 101 cats with cardiac disease. Lateral heart short axis (SA), lateral long axis (LA), sum of long and short axis (heart size: HS) and vertebral heart size (VHS) increased significantly with the progression of LAE. In addition, HS correlated more significantly with echocardiographic left atrial area and had an acceptable sensitivity (85.7%) and much higher specificity (90.3%) than VHS. The cut-off value for the diagnosis of LAE was 9.8 cm. These results suggest that HS may be a simple and useful radiographic measurement for the prediction of LAE in cats.