Estimation of left ventricular-arterial coupling using echocardiography in cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Echocardiographic ventricular-arterial coupling may help detect and stage cardiac dysfunction in cats with HCM.

This retrospective study investigated ventricular-arterial coupling (VAC) estimated via echocardiography in cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), comparing 69 HCM cats (subdivided into stages B1, B2, and C) against 36 healthy controls. VAC, defined as the ratio of effective arterial elastance (Ea) to left ventricular end-systolic elastance (Ees), reflects the mechanical interaction between the left ventricle and arterial system and serves as an index of overall cardiovascular efficiency. Notably, VAC values in HCM stage B1 cats were significantly lower than both healthy controls and stage C cats, suggesting supranormal ventricular contractility relative to arterial load in early disease—a compensatory phenomenon that may not persist as disease progresses. VAC demonstrated a strong negative correlation with fractional shortening (r = -0.808, P < .001) and a fair positive correlation with left ventricular internal diameter (r = 0.496, P < .001), indicating its association with established markers of systolic function and ventricular remodeling. These findings suggest that echocardiographically derived VAC may detect hemodynamic alterations in HCM cats across disease stages. Limitations include the retrospective design, potential selection bias, and the lack of longitudinal follow-up data linking VAC to clinical outcomes. Despite these constraints, VAC estimation using echocardiography shows promise as a non-invasive tool for characterizing cardiac function in feline HCM and may complement existing staging parameters in clinical practice with further prospective validation.

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