Effects of dog cardiac orientation on vertebral heart score measurements in different thoracic types

Vet World Vol.17 November-2024 Article - 23

Research Article

Veterinary World, 17(11): 2635-2643

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2024.2635-2643

Suphat Soeratanapant¹, Somchin Sutthigran¹, Phasamon Saisawart¹, Nardtiwa Chaivoravitsakul², Kongthit Horoongruang², Luksamee Limpongsai², Artima Tantarawanich², Chutimon Thanaboonnipat¹, Kittipong Tachampa³, and Nan Choisunirachon¹

1. Department of Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
2. The Small Animal Hospital, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Small Animal Teaching Hospital, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
3. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.

Background and Aim: Computed tomographic (CT) images can elucidate the variations of cardiac orientation that this information among dog breeds has never been reported. This study aimed to explore the heart orientations of dogs with different thoracic types and study their effects on vertebral heart score (VHS) measurements using CT images.

Materials and Methods: Thoracic CT images of 115 mature dogs without thoracic abnormalities were retrospectively examined. The dogs were classified into four groups: Normal Broad, Abnormal Broad, Normal, and Deep. All dogs were also classified based on their heart deviations. The VHSs were evaluated using lateral VHS, dorsal VHS, and adjusted VHS, and all were compared.

Results: In the normal broad and abnormal broad groups, the lateral VHS and lateral long-axis dimensions were significantly lower than those obtained from the dorsal and adjusted VHSs. In addition, heart deviations were mostly observed in the normal broad and abnormal broad groups. Nevertheless, little evidence was found in the normal and deep groups. The lateral VHS and lateral long-axis dimensions were significantly reduced by heart deviation more than the dorsal and adjusted VHSs.

Conclusion: Cardiac orientations among dog breeds can affect VHSs of lateral projection, especially in the broad thoracic group. Clinical evaluation of the VHS in the broad thoracic dogs should be performed on the dorsal view for more accurate measurement of heart size.

Keywords: cardiac dimension, computed tomography, dog, heart orientation, thoracic cage.

How to cite this article: Soeratanapant S, Sutthigran S, Saisawart P, Chaivoravitsakul N, Horoongruang K, Limpongsai L, Tantarawanich A, Thanaboonnipat C, Tachampa K, and Choisunirachon N (2024) Effects of dog cardiac orientation on vertebral heart score measurements in different thoracic types, Veterinary World, 17(11): 2635-2643.

Received: 2024-07-24 Accepted: 2024-10-16 Published online: 2024-11-25

Corresponding author: Nan Choisunirachon E-mail: nan.c@chula.ac.th

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.2635-2643

Copyright: Soeratanapant, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.