Anatomopathological staging of feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy through quantitative evaluation based on morphometric and histopathological data.

Diagnosis of feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is both clinical and anatomopathological. Since standardized echocardiographic parameters have previously been established for its diagnosis and classification, the aim of the present study is to provide an original, complete and repeatable quantitative anatomopathological evaluation of this myocardial disease. Since ES-HCM is a clearly defined clinicopathological entity of feline HCM, the present study also aims to investigate its temporal evolution. The hearts of 21 cats with previous diagnosis or suspicion of HCM and 6 control animals were submitted for morphometric and histopathological investigations. The proposed quantitative assessment of gross and histopathological features of HCM appears to be original and repeatable. Correlations between morphometric data allow to establish that the progression to the end-stage phenotypes, primarily characterized by increase in left ventricular fibrous tissue deposition, is accompanied by dilation of left ventricular lumen (P=0.0004) and left atrium (P=0.0017) and increase in intramural coronary arteriosclerosis (P=0.0293).