Comparison of three methods of measuring vertebral heart size in German Shepherd dogs

Abstract

The method of measuring the heart size in thoracic radiography by comparing it to the length of thoracic vertebrae is marked as vertebral heart size (VHS). Besides the original VHS measurement suggested by Buchanan and Bücheler, there are modifications of these measurements in literature. With the aim to evaluate differences between different methods of VHS measurement, we compared radiographs of six clinically healthy dogs of the same breed and age (German shepherd dogs, 3 years of age), whose heart size was measured according to three different methods of VHS measurement. There were not significant differences between the values obtained by different methods of VHS measurement. In our study, we also compared findings of radiographs subjective assessment and VHS measurements. The second and third method of measurement were much more consistent to subjective assessment than the first method. Diagnosis of cardiac abnormalities in dogs should not be based solely on the measurement of vertebral heart size. However, VHS measurement is very suitable for clinical practice. According to the study reported here, the second method of VHS measurement described in this paper, was recommended.

Metod koji poredi dimenziju srčane siluete rendgenskog snimka toraksa psa sa dužinom tela torakalnih pršljenova označen je kao VHS metod. Pored originalnog merenja VHS koga su predložili Buchanan i Bücheler, u literaturi se opisuju i modifikacije ove metode. Sa ciljem da se ispita razlika između različitih metoda merenja VHS, izvršeno je poređenje rendgenskih snimaka šest klinički zdravih pasa iste rase i starosti (nemački ovčari stari 3 godine), čija je veličina srca izmerena upotrebom tri različita metoda merenja. Nisu utvrđene statistički značajne razlike između vrednosti dobijenih ovim različitim VHS metodama. Dijagnoza promena na srcu kod pasa ne treba da se isključivo zasniva na merenju veličine srca u odnosu na vertebre ali je VHS merenje veoma pogodno za kliničku praksu. Prema našim ispitivanjima, preporučen je drugi metod VHS merenja koji je opisan u radu, kao najpouzdaniji metod za rendgenska ispitivanja.