Radiology Cardiac Disease Flashcards
Where are veins positioned wrt arteries on radiographs?
Veins are VENTRAL and CENTRAL
What signs of left and right sided heart failure are visible on radiograph?
> left - pulmonary oedema - pulmonary congestion > right - hepatomegaly - peritoneal effusion - pleural effusion
Where does pulmonary oedema affect dogs and cats?
Dogs: Caudal lung lobes
Cats: less predictable (may be anywhere, may be localised patch mimicing other pathologies eg. bronchopnumonia)
- if in doubt repeat rads after 12hrs diuresis and check for change (oedema will go, other causes unlikely to change)
What is the purpose of radiography in animals without over cardiac failure?
size and shape of cardiac silhouette
How may the position of the trachea indicate cardiac enlargement?
Trachea deflected dorsally towards spine
How may the caudal vena cava position indicate cardiac enlargement?
should be downhill into the heart, if enlarged may go uphill into heart
Which species has a narrow tracea normally?
Bulldogs
Which dogs have particulalry rounded hearts?
Brachycephalic, young and fat
Which type of hypertrophy is not visable on rads?
COncentric hypertrophy
What may an enlarged cardiac silhouette indicate?
- eccentric hypertrophy
- dilation
- pericardial effusion
Which breed has a particularly large heart normally?
English springer spaniel
What subjective measurements can be used to define cardiomegaly?
- proportion of thoracic diameter occupied
- number of intercostal spaces occupied
- shape
- position of trachea
- distance from heart to diaphragm
What is the VHS? Is this used nowadays?
- add diameter and width of heart
- compare with no. spinous processes
> normal range not correct for most dogs
> not shown to make diagnosis any more accurate
> many cardiac diseases don’t enlarge heart anyway
Does the cardiac silhouette look the same on left and right lateral?
No!
- looks more round in left lat, looks more normal in right lat
Which part of the heart is seen to be enlarged with PDA?
- > Left sided volume overload
- > Ao, PA and LA enlargement and bulge at heart base
