Evaluation of Plasma D-dimer Concentration in Cats with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Abstract

Arterial thromboembolism (ATE) is a common and fatal complication of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in cats. Therefore in this study, we evaluated the hypercoagulability (using plasma concentration of D-dimer) in HCM cats with different stage of heart failure and left atrial enlargement and also investigated the any correlation with echocardiographic indices (including left free wall thickness at diastole, interventricular septal thickness at diastole, LA to Ao ratio, heart failure stage, existence of systolic anterior motion of mitral valve). The median plasma D-dimer concentration in this study population was 0.51 ± 0.70 (range 0 to 2.50) ㎍/mL in the control group, 1.47 ± 1.29 (range 0.3 to 5.79) ㎍/mL in the HCM group, 1.48 ± 1.65 (range 0.3 to 5.79) ㎍/mL in the ISACHC I group, 1.62 ± 0.4 (range 1.31 to 2.07) ㎍/mL in the ISACHC II group, 1.36 ± 0.91 (range 0.3 to 2.31) ㎍/mL in the ISACHC III group, 1.90 ± 1.60 (range 0.3 to 5.79) ㎍/mL in the cat with LA dilation, 1.72 ± 0.72 (range 0.6 to 2.31) ㎍/mL in cats with SEC-T, 1.19 ± 0.70 (range 0.3 to 2.31) ㎍/mL in the cats with SAM, and 1.63 ± 0.80 (range 0.6 to 2.31) ㎍/mL in the cats with ATE. Our study found the median and mean concentration of plasma D-dimer was higher in cat with HCM, ATE, SECT and SAM and clearly provides evidence of hypercoagulability in cats with HCM, although the severity was not correlated to the dilation of LA and the presence of heart failure. This is the first study evaluating the hypercoagulability in cats with HCM in Korea.