Repeatability and Reproducibility of Feline Echocardiographic Left Ventricular Myocardial Area and Left Ventricular Wall Thickness Measurement Techniques

INTRODUCTION/OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the repeatability and reproducibility (R apparently normal echocardiograms from 50 cats were included. Using right parasternal two-dimensional short-axis echocardiographic images at the level of the papillary muscles, LVMA, left ventricular myocardial area including papillary muscles (LVMAP), interventricular septum thickness at end-diastole (IVSd), and left ventricular posterior wall thickness at end-diastole (LVPWd) were recorded. Ten echocardiograms were randomly selected for R&R assessment by three observers on three separate occasions each. Concordance between observers was assessed using Kendall's W, and measurement system variance was analyzed via Gage R&R, using a random-effects model. RESULTS: Median (minimum-maximum) of measurements from the 50 echocardiograms were as follows: LVMA: 2.46 cm STUDY LIMITATIONS: Measurements were based on preselected high-quality cine loops and may not reflect variability encountered in real-world practice. All echocardiograms were acquired from a single machine and included only apparently normal echocardiograms, limiting generalizability to diseased populations or diverse imaging systems. CONCLUSIONS: The LVMAP has good R&R. Further studies are warranted to validate LVMAP's diagnostic utility.