Focused Cardiac Ultrasound Examination as a Tool for Diagnosis of Infective Endocarditis and Myocarditis in Dogs and Cats

et al. 2022

Basic lung and heart ultrasound examination combined with chest X-ray (TUSX) is currently considered to be very useful for differentiation of asthma, chronic bronchitis and laryngeal paralysis from other diseases with dyspnea/coughing. Among 252 client-owned animals with persistent dyspnea/cough/noisy breathing, in 197 of them: pulmonary edema, pneumonia, lung cancer, free pleural fluid, pneumothorax, lung contusion or heart disease were diagnosed. The remaining 55 animals (42 dogs and 13 cats) were diagnosed with asthma (in 13 cats), chronic bronchitis (in 37 dogs) and laryngeal paralysis (in 5 dogs) using TUSX. These animals were qualified for inhaled fluticasone treatment using 3 types of spacers -two commercial and a home--made mask. 36 animals (65.5%) completed the trail. In 26 of them (72.2%) the owners observed complete, long lasting relief of the symptoms, and the owners of 7 animals (19.5%) declared a considerable clinical improvement, regardless of the type of spacer used. The owners of 3 animals (8.3%) did not see any improvement. The proposed diagnostic and therapeutic management improved long-term clinical status of the vast majority (91.7%) of animals. Therefore, it seems justified to include the TUSX diagnostic protocol in daily veterinary practice and to encourage owners to prepare home-made face masks for inhaled fluticasone treatment.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polish Journal of Veterinary Sciences

et al. 2022

Lung Ultrasound for Imaging of B-Lines in Dogs and Cats—A Prospective Study Investigating Agreement between Three Types of Transducers and the Accuracy in Diagnosing Cardiogenic Pulmonary Edema, Pneumonia and Lung Neoplasia

et al. 2021

Animals

Self Cite

Transthoracic heart and lung ultrasound (LUS) was performed in 200 dogs and cats with dyspnea to evaluate the agreement between the results obtained using three types of transducers (microconvex, linear, and phased array) and to determine the accuracy of LUS in discriminating between three conditions commonly causing dyspnea in companion animals: cardiogenic pulmonary edema (CPE), pneumonia, and lung neoplasm. The agreement beyond chance was assessed using the weighted Cohen’s kappa coefficient (κw). The highest values of κw (>0.9) were observed for the pair of microconvex and linear transducers. To quantify B-lines the lung ultrasound score (LUSscore) was developed as a sum of points describing the occurrence of B-lines for each of 8 standardized thoracic locations. The accuracy of LUSscore was determined using the area under ROC curve (AUROC). In dogs AUROC of LUSscore was 75.9% (CI 95%: 65.0% to 86.8%) for distinguishing between lung neoplasms and the two other causes of dyspnea. In cats AUROC of LUSscore was 83.6% (CI 95%: 75.2% to 92.0%) for distinguishing between CPE and the two other causes of dyspnea. The study shows that results obtained with microconvex and linear transducers are highly consistent and these two transducers can be used interchangeably. Moreover, the LUSscore may help identify dogs with lung neoplasms and cats with CPE, however its diagnostic accuracy is only fair to moderate.

Integrated Basic Heart and Lung Ultrasound Examination for the Differentiation between Bacterial Pneumonia and Lung Neoplasm in Dogs—A New Diagnostic Algorithm

et al. 2022

Animals

The diagnostics of two of the most prevalent lung diseases in dogs, bacterial pneumonia (BP) and lung neoplasm (LN), are challenging as their clinical signs are identical and may also occur in extrapulmonary diseases. This study aims to identify ultrasonographic criteria and develop a lung ultrasound (LUS)-based diagnostic algorithm which could help distinguish between these two conditions. The study is carried out in 66 dyspneic dogs in which a heart disease was excluded using echocardiography. Based on imaging and laboratory diagnostic tests, as well as follow-up, the dogs are classified into LN (35 dogs) and BP (31 dogs) groups. LUS is performed at admission and the presence of seven lung abnormalities (pleural thickening, B-lines, subpleural consolidations, hepatization with or without aeration, nodule sign and mass classified together as a tumor, and free pleural fluid) and classification and regression trees are used to develop an LUS-based diagnostic algorithm. Distribution of all LUS abnormalities except for aerations differs significantly between groups; however, their individual differentiating potential is rather low. Therefore, we combine them in an algorithm which allows for definitive classification of 60 dogs (91%) (32 with LN and 28 with BP) with correct diagnosis of LN and BP in 31 dogs and 27 dogs, respectively.