Abstract：
The vertebral heart scale (VHS) is the most common method used for the objective evaluation of heart size, however, VHS cannot evaluate the entire heart area. This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the development and feasibility of vertebral heart area ratio (VHAR=heart area/the fourth thoracic vertebra [T4] body area) as a new cardiac measurement method. A total of 125 dogs considered without clinical heart abnormalities in the pre-anesthetic examination, measurements of the VHS and VHAR using thoracic radiography were compared with computed tomography measurements of the vertebral cardiac volume ratio (VCVR=cardiac volume/T4 body volume) and investigate whether the VHAR values differed between observers. The mean cardiac and T4 body volumes were 116.99 ± 108.07 cm3 and 0.92 ± 0.91 cm3, respectively. The mean values of observers 1 and 2 were 9.9 ± 0.7 v (VHS), 42.64 ± 27.94 cm2 (heart area), and 1.37 ± 0.96 cm2 (T4 body area). Intraclass coefficients were the highest for the heart area, followed by the T4 body area and VHS. The VHAR showed a moderate correlation with VHS in observers 1 (r=0.671) and 2 (r=0.633). The VCVR showed a more positive correlation with VHAR (r=0.573) than with VHS (r=0.426). These results indicated that VHAR could be used as a complement to VHS for heart size measurement, and the high degree of observer agreement for the measurements indicated the measurement reproducibility of VHAR.
摘要：
椎体心脏量表（VHS）是用于客观评价心脏大小的最常用方法，然而,VHS无法评估整个心脏区域。这项回顾性研究旨在评估椎体心脏面积比（VHAR=心脏面积/第四胸椎[T4]身体面积）作为一种新的心脏测量方法的发展和可行性。在麻醉前检查中，总共125只狗被认为没有临床心脏异常，使用胸部X线摄片对VHS和VHAR的测量值与椎体心脏体积比(VCVR=心脏体积/T4体体积)的计算机断层扫描测量值进行了比较,并调查观察者之间的VHAR值是否存在差异.平均心脏和T4身体体积分别为116.99±108.07cm3和0.92±0.91cm3。观察者1和2的平均值为9.9±0.7v（VHS），42.64±27.94cm2(心脏面积),和1.37±0.96cm2(T4身体面积)。心脏区域的组内系数最高，其次是T4体区和VHS。在观察者1（r=0.671）和2（r=0.633）中，VHAR与VHS呈中等相关性。VCVR与VHAR（r=0.573）比与VHS（r=0.426）呈正相关。这些结果表明，VHAR可以作为心脏大小测量的VHS的补充，观察者对测量结果的高度一致性表明VHAR的测量可重复性。
