| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 獸醫學研究所 === 94 === Objective measurement of radiographic cardiac size, such as the vertebral heart scale (VHS) method, has become one of the most common methods to evaluate the canine and feline cardiac size in radiographs due to its simplicity and limited inter-observer variation which can overcome the limitations of previous reported measuring methods. One hundred and two small breed dogs without cardiac diseases joined in the first study to determine the effects of sex, age, body weight and breed on the VHS in small breed dogs. The results presented that age and sex did not affect the radiographic cardiac size in small breed dogs free from cardiac diseases, and the body weight was positively correlated to the VHS value; the mean VHS value of Pomeranian was significantly different from other four popular breeds in the first study. In the second study, VHS was measured in right recumbent lateral thoracic radiographs of 275 small breed dogs to investigate the relationship between VHS and the modified New York heart association functional classification in small breed dogs. The results suggested that severity of heart failure was positively correlated with the VHS revealed by the lateral thoracic radiographs in small breed dogs, and the development of heart failure compensatory mechanisms should be linked together with the heart failure severity and the radiographic cardiac size to evaluate the cardiac condition of dogs more accurately.
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