Echoes Across the Globe: Insights into Left Atrial Size Assessment in Dogs

Presentation Description / Summary: Left atrial (LA) enlargement is an important marker of cardiac disease and echocardiographic assessment of the size of this chamber is routinely performed in veterinary medicine. Multiple factors may influence how veterinary echocardiographers assess the LA size in animals. Variation in assessment may negatively impact accuracy of disease severity assessment and prognostication, and how individual veterinarians interpret published clinical study results and expert treatment guidelines. It is widely presumed that veterinary echocardiographers have various preferences for LA size assessment in dogs. Several large-scale web-based studies within the gloBal caninE and feliNE leFt atrIal sIze assessmenT (BENEFIT) project have been conducted to explore this variation. Using scientifically tested method and specially designed platform, we systematically examined the variation in LA size assessment in dogs through still images and dynamic cine-loops. The studies also identified sources of variation and key factors for reducing discrepancies in LA size assessment. The results from the project may serve as a base for future work aimed at harmonizing cardiac imaging. We hope to get the possibility to present the results from our most recent studies conducted within the BENEFIT project at ACVIM, including results that have never been presented earlier. We also aim to provide some information about future directions.

Learner Outcomes: 1. Learn about echocardiographers’ preferences for assessing LA size in dogs, especially concerning image selection, timing method, caliper placement, and threshold for LA enlargement for 2D linear methods. 2. Learn about sources of variation in subjective assessments and linear 2D measurements of LA size. 3. Learn about the additional value of linear 2D measurements of LA size to subjective assessment on interobserver variation.