Objective: This study aimed to find the radiographic characteristics for the detection of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and congestive heart failure (CHF) in cats.
Animals: Healthy cats (n = 35) and HCM cats with (21) and without (22) CHF.
Methods: On radiography, the cardiac size using vertebral heart score, left atrium enlargement (LAE), and dilation of the pulmonary vessels were assessed. The sensitivity and specificity of the radiographic characteristics regarding LAE were evaluated with the echocardiographic left atrium to aortic root ratio as a reference.
Results: In HCM cats, cardiomegaly, LAE, and dilation of the caudal pulmonary artery were found compared with those in healthy cats. The LAE could be predicted using the elevation of the carina with 94.12% specificity but 17.5% sensitivity. When CHF developed, LAE and dilation of the caudal pulmonary vein (PV) were significantly different compared with those in HCM cats without CHF. The distal side of the summated shadow made by the right caudal PV with the ninth rib in HCM cats with CHF was significantly larger than that in HCM cats without CHF and a cut-off value of 5.35 mm was drawn with 75% sensitivity and 100% specificity.
Clinical relevance: Although there was an overlapping of radiographic findings between healthy and HCM cats, radiographic assessment of LAE can be useful for predicting HCM and the distal side of the summated shadow made by the right caudal PV with the ninth rib can predict CHF in HCM cats.