Lecture 3 thorax Flashcards
Vetebral heart scale
Measure widest and longest part and count vertebral bodies
Normal Dog: 9.7 +/- 0.5
Normal Cat: 7.5 +/- 0.3
Grey hounds and boxers: large hearts 11.6 +/- 0.6
Two primary branches off aortic arch
- Left subclavian
- brachiocephalic trunk
Lazy heart / redundant aortic knob or angular aorta
- 2 features of geriatric feline thorax
- Don’t mistake for lung mass in L. Cranial lung lobe
Interpretation paradigm for cardiac silhouette
- Is there cardiac enlargement? L, R, or both sides
- Is there radiographic evidence of right (pleural effusion) or left sided (pulmonary edema) cardiac failure
- Are the peripheral pulmonary arteries or veins enlarged? PA enlarged? PV enlarged? Both?
- Are there any lumps or bumps in area of the great vessels on the VD/DV projection (must be straight for accurate interpretation)
- Other Roentgen abnormalities associated with the cardiac silhouette?
Left Heart Failure
Pulmonary Edema
Dogs
- Pulmonary venous enlargement >> unstructured interstitial to alveolar (hilar to caudodorsal distribution)
- Both caudal lung lobes or right caudal lung lobe (eccentric mitral valve regurgitant jet)
Cats
- Multifocal and asymmetric w/o a specific lung lobe distribution
- Unstructured interstitial >> alveolar (same dz but different pattern)
- Enlarged pulmonary arteries and veins
Veins
Central and ventral
Caudo dorsal distribution of inc opacity
Pulmonary edema
Pleural effusion look for
Retraction of lung lobes
Falciform ligament
Fat on the abdominal side of the diaphragm
Right Atrium and ventrical enlargement
- Can happen independently
- Best viewed on VD
Reverse D (bottom left)
Right ventricular enlargement
Right atrial enlargement typical
Tricuspid disease
Right ventrical enlargement typical of
Pulmonic stenosis
Left atrial enlargement
- Backpack signs (backpack on top of heart)
- Signs of compression of left caudal mainstream bronchus
- TRACHEAL ELEVATION
Left to right patent ductus arteriosus: Roentgen signs
- Left sided cardiomegaly with left atrial and ventricular enlargement
- Pulmonary overcirculation with enlargement of both pulmonary arteries and veins
- Enlargement of the descending thoracic aorta (= ductus diverticulum)
- Enlargement of the main pulmonary artery (+/-)
- Left heart failure = pulmonary edema
- Tree knuckle sign on VD = classic finding
- enlargement of the MPA descending thoracic aorta and left auricle