Evaluation of Pulmonary Hypertension in Dogs with Heartworm Disease Using the Computed Tomographic Pulmonary Trunk to Aorta Diameter Ratio

• Published in: Animals (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 18; p. 2441
• Main Authors: Matos, Jorge Isidoro, Falcón-Cordón, Yaiza, García-Rodríguez, Sara Nieves, Costa-Rodríguez, Noelia, Montoya-Alonso, José Alberto, Carretón, Elena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 16.09.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Animals; Antigens; Aorta; Computed tomography; Coronary artery disease; Coronary vessels; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Diagnosis; Dirofilaria immitis; Disease; Dogs; Evaluation; Heart; Heart diseases; heartworm disease; Hypertension; Parameter estimation; Parasites; Pulmonary arteries; Pulmonary artery; Pulmonary hypertension; pulmonary trunk to aorta ratio; Ratios; Software; Thorax; Tomography; Ultrasonic imaging; Variables; Veins & arteries; Veterinary medicine; United States > US; Spain; computed tomography; pulmonary trunk to aorta ratio; pulmonary hypertension; dogs; heartworm disease; animal diseases; Dirofilaria immitis
• ISSN: 2076-2615; 2076-2615
• DOI: 10.3390/ani12182441

Dirofilaria immitis causes proliferative pulmonary endoarteritis that leads to the appearance of chronic precapillary pulmonary hypertension (PH) in dogs. Pulmonary trunk to aorta ratio (PT:Ao ratio) obtained by computed tomography (CT) was studied and the quantitative measure of the diameters of the pulmonary trunk (PT), the descending thoracic aorta (DAo) and ascending thoracic aorta (AAo) were evaluated for the determination of the presence of moderate to severe PH in 59 dogs. The diagnosis of PH was echocardiographically determined, based on the determination of the right pulmonary artery distensibility (RPAD) index (<29.5%), and compared with other parameters for estimating PH. The results showed a very high concordance: 0.976 (p-value 0.000) between the two CT methods (PT:DAo and PT:AAo) with an excellent intraclass correlation coefficient > 0.95. Moreover, cut-off values of ≥1.111 for PT:DAo, and ≥1.057 for PT:AAo were determined for dogs with an RPAD index < 29.5%, which suggests a cut-off value between healthy dogs and the presence of PH. As has been previously published, The PT:Ao ratios did not determine the presence of mild PH, so the measurements cannot be considered useful for the early diagnosis of PH in dogs with heartworm.