Ando T, Izawa T, Nishida H, Akiyoshi H. Clinical findings using echocardiography and plasma cardiac troponin I and pathological findings in dogs with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: A retrospective study.
Open Vet J 2023;
13:742-752. [PMID:
37545712 PMCID:
PMC10399649 DOI:
10.5455/ovj.2023.v13.i6.9]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2023] [Accepted: 05/14/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Background
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is considered rare in dogs, and there is a lack of clinical data. Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) is a biomarker of cardiomyocyte damage and necrosis and can be used to diagnose cat and human HCM.
Aim
We investigated whether the presence of cTnI in clinical data can be used in conjunction with echocardiography to diagnose canine HCM.
Methods
This study comprised client-owned dogs with clinical evidence of concentric hypertrophy on echocardiographic images, serum total thyroxine levels of ≤5 µg/dl, systolic blood pressure of ≤180 mmHg, and absence of aortic stenosis. All cases were necropsied.
Results
Cardiomyocyte hypertrophy (mean diameter, 18.3 ± 1.8 µm), myocardial fiber disarray (70%), interstitial fibrosis (80%), and small vessel disease (100%) were assessed. In dogs with HCM, the left ventricles were concentric, almost symmetrical, and hypertrophied above the aortic diameter. The end-diastolic interventricular septum normalized to body weight [intraventricular septal thickness in diastole (IVSDN)] was 0.788 [interquartile range (IQR), 0.7-0.92], which exceeded the normal range (5%-95%, IQR: 0.33-0.52). In total, 70% of the dogs with HCM had syncope and dyspnea, and all dogs had high cTnI levels (median, 3.94 ng/ml), exceeding the upper limit of normal (0.11 ng/ml) and indicating cardiomyocyte damage. IVSDN and serum cTnI levels were correlated (ρ = 0.839, p = 0.01).
Conclusion
Ventricular wall thickening and high serum cTnI levels can provide a presumptive diagnosis of HCM and prompt the initiation of treatment or additional diagnostic investigations.
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