How breathing out helps spot left heart enlargement in dogs

Abstract

Radiography is a standard diagnostic test for characterizing left heart enlargement in dogs however limited information is available on the effects of respiratory phases. This prospective and retrospective method comparison study investigated the respiratory effect on the size and shape of the left heart in dogs to determine the usefulness of expiratory radiographs to detect enlargements in the left atrium (LA) and left ventricle (LV). Thoracic radiographs taken at full inspiration and expiration were evaluated in 20 normal beagles and 100 dogs diagnosed with mitral regurgitation (MR). Vertebral heart score (VHS), vertebral left atrial size, elevation of the carina, and dorsal bulging of LA on lateral view and lateral bulging of the left auricular appendage and LV on ventrodorsal view were assessed. In normal dogs, there were no significant differences in the evaluative factors between inspiration and expiration. In dogs with MR, VHS did not change according to respiration. However, bulging of the LA, left auricular appendage, and LV had sharp margin during expiration compared with inspiration. The expiratory radiographic finding of LA bulging had a higher correlation with the LA to aorta ratio compared with LA bulging in the inspiratory radiography. Using a LA to aorta echocardiographic ratio greater than 1.5 as the gold standard, the radiographic sensitivity for LA enlargement was higher during expiration than inspiration. These findings of our study indicated that expiratory radiography can be helpful to support the detection of left heart enlargement, although it can overestimate LA enlargement in dogs with MR.