Respiratory Disorders in Ferrets

Lennox, Angela M.

doi:10.1016/j.cvex.2021.02.002

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 19 publications

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“…. 13–16 All ferrets selected in this study were older than 9 months which was expected to minimize age‐related variations as ferrets had reached their adult size and sexual maturity at that age 10 . .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accuracy of the modified vertebral heart score and the cardio‐vertebral ratio for radiographic evaluation of cardiomegaly in ferrets

Godart

Ruel

Bertal

et al. 2022

Vet Radiology Ultrasound

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Thoracic radiography is commonly used to assess the size of the heart and diagnose cardiac disease in ferrets. Several standardized radiographic heart size indicators have been introduced in this species and values in healthy ferrets have been reported. To date, none of these indicators has been tested in ferrets with cardiac disease. The aim of this prospective and retrospective, analytical observational design study was to assess the accuracy of the modified vertebral heart score (mVHS) and the cardiovertebral ratio (CVR) in the radiographic detection of cardiomegaly in ferrets. Thoracic radiographs of 24 ferrets with confirmed heart diseases, 22 ferrets with non-cardiac diseases and normal-sized hearts on echocardiogram, and 24 healthy ferrets were mixed and examined by three independent and blinded radiologists who measured mVHS and CVR in right lateral (RL) and ventrodorsal (VD) radiographs. For all readers, ferrets with cardiac disease had significantly higher mVHS and CVR than ferrets without cardiac disease on echocardiography. Optimal cut-points for predicting cardiac enlargement were 6.25 vertebrae and 7.25 vertebrae for RL-mVHS and VD-mVHS, and 1.58 and 1.80 for RL-CVR and VD-CVR, respectively. Using these cut-points, the accuracy was good for indicators measured in RL radiographs (92.9% for RL-mVHS; 91.4% for RL-CVR) and moderate for indicators measured in VD radiographs (88.6% for VD-mVHS; 85.7% for VD-CVR). Findings supported the use of mVHS and CVR for evaluating the size of the heart in diseased ferrets, with caution in values interpretation when pericardial fat prevents precise delineation of the cardiac silhouette contour especially on VD radiographs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%