Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 3, 2026
Echocardiographic Assessment of Cardiac Anatomy and Function in Adult Rats
Published on: December 13, 2019
Influence of including or excluding endocardial borders on left ventricular wall thickness measurements in cats
Maximiliane G Sehn1,2, Yuen Yee Cheuk2, Jose Novo Matos3
1Clinic for Small Animals, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover Foundation, 30559 Hannover, Germany.
Background:
Consensus is lacking on which endocardial borders to include when measuring left ventricular wall thickness (LVWT) in cats.
Hypothesis/Objectives:
The number of endocardial borders included can influence whether an individual cat is classified as having hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) or not.
Animals:
Fifty-two cats that previously were diagnosed as either healthy, equivocal for HCM, or having an HCM phenotype.
Methods:
Single-center retrospective cross-sectional study. Three observers measured LVWT using 4 different LVWT measurement protocols: leading edge-to-leading edge (L-L); leading edge-to-trailing edge, trailing edge-to-leading edge, and trailing edge-to-trailing edge for the interventricular septum and L-L and trailing edge-to-leading edge methods for the left ventricular free wall (LVFW). Measurements were made using stored echocardiographic images on 2 occasions by 2 observers. A Friedman test and post-hoc Wilcoxon signed rank test with Bonferroni correction were performed to detect differences between measurement techniques.
Results:
Interventricular septum (IVS) wall thickness was significantly larger for leading-edge-to-trailing-edge measurement (median and [interquartile range (IQR)]: 5.5 [3.8-7.2] millimeters) compared with other methods (P < .001). The trailing-edge-to-leading-edge method produced significantly smaller results (4.3 [IQR, 3.4-6.2] millimeters for the interventricular septum and 4.8 [IQR, 3.4-6.2] millimeters for the LVFW) compared with other methods (P < .001). Median IVS thickness measured as leading-edge-to-trailing-edge was 1.2 millimeters larger than when measured as trailing-edge-to-leading-edge.
Conclusions And Clinical Importance:
LVWT varies depending on the number of endocardial borders included. The number of endocardial borders included in LVWT measurements should be standardized.
