Vezzosi Tommaso, Puccinelli Caterina, Tognetti Rosalba, Pelligra Tina, Citi Simonetta
Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
Vet Radiol Ultrasound. 2020 Sep;61(5):507-511. doi: 10.1111/vru.12896. Epub 2020 Jul 4.
Thoracic radiography is a useful technique for the evaluation of cardiac dimensions, especially when echocardiography is not possible. The vertebral left atrial size (VLAS) has recently been proposed as a new radiographic method for quantifying left atrial dimensions in dogs. The aims of this retrospective, reference interval, observational study were to describe values for VLAS in a group of healthy adult dogs and to compare intraobserver and interobserver agreement for VLAS versus vertebral heart score (VHS) methods. Thoracic radiographs of 80 healthy adult dogs were evaluated. Normal left atrial size was determined based on an echocardiographic left atrial-to-aorta ratio < 1.6. The VLAS and vertebral heart score values were measured from right lateral radiographs. The correlations between VLAS, the vertebral heart score, and the left atrial-to-aorta ratio were evaluated. The effects of body weight, sex, and age were also tested using regression analyses. The median value of VLAS were 1.9, with a reference interval of 1.4-2.2. A positive correlation was found between VLAS and vertebral heart score values (r = 0.53; P < .0001). No effect of body weight, sex, and age on VLAS was detected. Excellent intraobserver and interobserver agreements were found for both VLAS and vertebral heart score methods (intraclass correlation coefficients ≥ 0.91). Findings from this sample of healthy dogs indicated that VLAS is a repeatable radiographic method for quantifying left atrial size. Further studies are warranted to evaluate this measure in clinically affected dogs.
胸部X线摄影是评估心脏大小的一种有用技术，尤其是在无法进行超声心动图检查时。最近，椎旁左心房大小（VLAS）被提议作为一种新的X线摄影方法，用于量化犬的左心房大小。这项回顾性、参考区间、观察性研究的目的是描述一组健康成年犬的VLAS值，并比较VLAS与椎体心脏评分（VHS）方法在观察者内和观察者间的一致性。对80只健康成年犬的胸部X线片进行了评估。根据超声心动图测得的左心房与主动脉比值<1.6来确定正常左心房大小。从右侧位X线片测量VLAS和椎体心脏评分值。评估了VLAS、椎体心脏评分与左心房与主动脉比值之间的相关性。还使用回归分析测试了体重、性别和年龄的影响。VLAS的中位数为1.9，参考区间为1.4 - 2.2。发现VLAS与椎体心脏评分值之间呈正相关（r = 0.53；P <.0001）。未检测到体重、性别和年龄对VLAS有影响。VLAS和椎体心脏评分方法在观察者内和观察者间均具有极好的一致性（组内相关系数≥0.91）。来自这组健康犬的研究结果表明，VLAS是一种可重复的用于量化左心房大小的X线摄影方法。有必要进一步研究以评估该指标在临床患病犬中的情况。
