Biomarker changes with SAM of the mitral valve in cats with HCM | VETgirl Veterinary Continuing Education Podcasts

VETgirl Veterinary Continuing Education Podcasts

In this VETgirl online veterinary continuing education podcast, we discuss the cardiac biomarkers in veterinary medicine. Biomarkers have been shown to be useful in assessment of severity of disease and etiology of clinical signs in cats with cardiomyopathies. The two cardiac biomarkers most thoroughly studied to date are N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic hormone (NT-proBNP) and cardiac troponin-I (cTnI). NT-proBNP provides information regarding degree of myocardial stretch and stress, while cTnI is more specific for assessing severity of myocardial injury. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is superficially thought of as a singular disease but actually encompasses a mosaic of various phenotypes dependent on location and heterogeneity of hypertrophy and presence or absence of obstructive processes. The most common obstructive process is dynamic left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (DLVOTO) in association with systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve (SAM), identified in up to 30% of cats with HCM. The presence of this finding in cats with HCM constitutes a diagnosis of hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, or HOCM. Elevations in both NTproBNP and cTnI have been documented in cats with HCM/HOCM but whether differential elevations in these markers occurs in cats with HCM vs cats with HOCM has not been thoroughly investigated. So, Seo et al out of the United Kingdom wanted to evaluate this in a study entitled Biomarker changes with systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve in cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The authors also aimed to determine what other relevant clinical factors might affect the degree of elevation of NTproBNP and/or cTnI. They hypothesized that cats with obstructive disease would have higher elevations in these biomarkers than those without.