{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,13]],"date-time":"2026-02-13T10:29:58Z","timestamp":1770978598119,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,13]],"date-time":"2026-02-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1770940800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Servicio de Medicina Veterinaria FULP\/ULPGC","award":["SD-240\/030\/0026"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SD-240\/030\/0026"]}]},{"name":"\u201cGrants for the financing of predoctoral contracts\u201d programme of the University de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria","award":["PIFULPGC-2020-2-CCSALUD-2"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PIFULPGC-2020-2-CCSALUD-2"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Veterinary Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Feline heartworm disease, caused by Dirofilaria immitis, is often underdiagnosed, particularly during its larval stage, known as Heartworm-Associated Respiratory Disease, (HARD). This study aimed to quantify CT-detectable pulmonary changes in naturally infected cats. Computed tomography (CT) was performed in 38 cats: Group A (n = 30, symptomatic seropositive) and Group B (n = 8, asymptomatic seronegative). Bronchial and pulmonary artery diameters were indexed to the sixth thoracic vertebral body (T6) to calculate bronchial-to-vertebral body (B\/VB) and pulmonary artery-to-vertebral body (A\/VB) ratios across all lung lobes. Group A cats showed significantly higher B\/VB ratios in the left cranial and right middle lobes compared with Group B (p &lt; 0.05), with increases of 42.0% and 47.5%, respectively. Conversely, A\/VB ratios did not differ significantly between groups (p &gt; 0.05), indicating the absence of relevant vascular remodelling. Intra-operator and inter-observer reliability were excellent (intraclass correlation coefficients &gt; 0.85). These findings suggest that bronchial dilation in the absence of arterial enlargement represents a key tomographic feature of larval D. immitis infection. Quantitative CT ratios, particularly the B\/VB ratio, provide objective imaging markers for the diagnosis of HARD in clinical practice, and may assist in differentiating this condition from other feline respiratory diseases in endemic areas.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/vetsci13020186","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,13]],"date-time":"2026-02-13T09:09:19Z","timestamp":1770973759000},"page":"186","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Computed Tomography Assessment of the Bronchial Lumen\u2013Vertebral Body and Pulmonary Artery\u2013Vertebral Body Relationships in Cats Naturally Infected with Immature Dirofilaria immitis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5810-0651","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sara Nieves","family":"Garc\u00eda-Rodr\u00edguez","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Research Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences (IUIBS), University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35016 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4273-2413","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jorge Isidoro","family":"Matos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Research Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences (IUIBS), University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35016 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"La\u00edn","family":"Garc\u00eda-Guasch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Research Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences (IUIBS), University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35016 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain"},{"name":"IVC Evidensia Hospital Veterinari Molins, 08005 Barcelona, Spain"},{"name":"IVC Evidensia Hospital Veterinaria del Mar, 08005 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-8160-5065","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eva","family":"Mohr-Peraza","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Research Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences (IUIBS), University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35016 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2683-7592","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jos\u00e9 Alberto","family":"Montoya-Alonso","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Research Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences (IUIBS), University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35016 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6509-910X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elena","family":"Carret\u00f3n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Research Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences (IUIBS), University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35016 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1544","DOI":"10.2460\/ajvr.2005.66.1544","article-title":"Pulmonary arterial disease in cats seropositive for Dirofilaria immitis but lacking adult heartworms in the heart and lungs","volume":"66","author":"Browne","year":"2005","journal-title":"Am. 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