Research Communications of the 27(th) ECVIM-CA Congress: Intercontinental, Saint Julian's, Malta, 14th to 16th September 2017

Disclosures: No disclosures to report. Right-sided congestive heart failure (R-CHF) secondary to rightsided heart or pericardial diseases is characterized by increased right atrial, systemic venous and capillary pressures. Direct right atrial pressure measurements are considered the gold standard for identifying R-CHF, but are invasive. In human medicine, sonographically identifying a distended, non-compliant caudal vena cava (CVC) is a non-invasive means of detecting R-CHF and/or estimating intravascular volume. Sonographic CVC dimensions in healthy dogs have been reported. However, the effect of R-CHF on CVC dimensions is not well described. The objective of this study was to determine if CVC measurements, obtained via three different sonographic views, from dogs with R-CHF are outside reference intervals (RI). Dogs presenting with right-sided heart disease and ascites were prospectively evaluated. Via longitudinal subxiphoid views (SV), maximal and minimal CVC diameter (SV-CVCMax, expiration, SV-CVCMin, inspiration) and collapsibility index (CI) were measured. Transverse 11-13 th right hepatic intercostal views (HV) were used to measure maximal and minimal CVC (HV-CVCMax, HV-CVCMin) and aortic diameter. A single CVC and aortic diameter (PV-CVC, PV-Ao) were measured via longitudinal right paralumbar views (PV). CVC dimensions were adjusted for the three views using allometric scaling as well as indexed to aortic diameter for HV and PV. Data were compared to a RI previously established by the authors using 126 healthy dogs of various breeds. Data were expressed as median and range.