Fig. 2
From: Heart to spine measurements to detect left atrial enlargement in dogs with mitral insufficiency
Right lateral thoracic radiograph. Vertebral Heart Size (VHS), long (L) and short (S) cardiac axes are shown. VHS is expressed as total units of vertebral length: 12.2v. Radiographic left atrial dimension (RLAD) is shown (white line). RLAD to spine measurement (yellow line) and the distance between the cranio-ventral and caudo-ventral surface of the vertebrae dorsal to the heart base (blue line) are shown. (L), (S) and RLAD-Spine were repositioned parallel to the long axis of the thoracic vertebrae from the cranial edge of the fourth thoracic vertebra (T4). RLAD-Spine was thus expressed as total units of vertebral length: 1.1v in this case