Interpretation of cardiac chamber size on canine thoracic radiographs is limited and may result in the false identification of right‐sided cardiomegaly in the presence of severe left‐sided cardiomegaly

Abstract

Qualitative assessment of individual cardiac chamber enlargement on thoracic radiographs was assessed using echocardiography as the gold standard in dogs. Using this method, the presence of severe left-sided cardiomegaly was hypothesized to contribute to the false identification of right-sided cardiomegaly on radiographs. 175 dogs with three-view thoracic radiographs were retrospectively included in this diagnostic accuracy study if echocardiography was done within 24 h, and no rescue therapy was provided in the interim. All radiographic studies were reviewed by two groups of five board-certified veterinary radiologists with greater and less than 10 years of experience for grading of cardiac chamber enlargement as normal or mildly, moderately, or severely enlarged. The agreement, sensitivity, and specificity of the radiologists' interpretation of cardiac chamber size on thoracic radiographs to measured echocardiographic grades were evaluated. A total of 147 cases had complete echocardiographic data available for analysis. Intragroup agreement was moderate for the evaluation of left atrial enlargement and slight to fair for all other cardiac chambers.Between the mode of the radiologists' responses in the two groups and the echocardiographic grades, there was slight agreement for all cardiac chambers with higher severity grades reported using echocardiography. When moderate to severe left-sided cardiomegaly was identified on echocardiography, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of radiographs were low, identifying dogs with radiographic evidence of right-sided cardiomegaly in the absence of corresponding right-sided cardiomegaly on echocardiography. Therefore, thoracic radiographs should be used with caution for the evaluation Abbreviations: LA:Ao ratio, left atrial to aortic root ratio

Caudal pulmonary artery to vein ratio on radiography can predict pulmonary hypertension in dogs with mitral regurgitation

“…This discrepancy may be due to the differences in modality to assess right chamber enlargement; unlike echocardiography in the previous study, we used radiography to detect enlargement of the right cardiac chamber. Therefore, our study would miss mild enlargement because radiographic evaluation for right chamber enlargement has low sensitivity and specificity 21 …”

“…Therefore, our study would miss mild enlargement because radiographic evaluation for right chamber enlargement has low sensitivity and specificity. 21 Pulmonary edema was more frequently observed in dogs with PH compared to dogs without PH. In dogs with PH secondary to MR, pulmonary edema can be caused by MR (congestive heart failure)…”

Діагностика Кардіоміопатії У Свійських Собак

“…Вперше цей метод описали Buchanan, & Bucheler, 1995 [18]. У своєму дослідженні автори використовували рентгенівські знімки грудної клітини бічної проєкції у 100 собак і виявили, що існує кореляція між розмірами серця та довжиною тіла незалежно від конфігурації грудної клітки [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27].…”