Pulmonary-vein-to-pulmonary-artery ratio can be utilized to evaluate myxomatous mitral valve disease progression in dogs.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic value of pulmonary-vein-to-pulmonary-artery ratio (PVPA) in dogs with myxomatous mitral valve degeneration (MMVD), classified according to the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) consensus guidelines. ANIMALS 80 client-owned dogs with either MMVD (n = 65) or no cardiovascular disease (control group; n = 15) between August 5, 2020, and July 19, 2023. METHODS: This is a retrospective study. Dogs with MMVD were classified according to ACVIM consensus guidelines. Echocardiograms, thoracic radiographs, and other measurements needed in this study were reviewed in all dogs. Spearman correlation was used to determine the correlation between the PVPA and the following variables vertebral heart size, vertebral left atrial size, left-atrium-to-aorta ratio, normalized left ventricular internal diameter, and peak transmitral early diastolic velocity. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate the value of PVPA in distinguishing between stages B1 and B2 and stages B2 and C. RESULTS: All conventional indices showed correlations with PVPA. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) for stages B1 and B2 was 0.83, and the cutoff value for differentiating stage B2 was 1.52. The AUC for stages B2 and C was 0.81, and the cutoff value for differentiating stage C was 2.09. CLINICAL RELEVANCE PVPA was significantly different between control and the stage B1 group, stage B1 and B2 group, and stage B2 and C group. PVPA can be an index that can be used in evaluating MMVD dogs.