Lance Visser, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Cardiology), discusses essential heart size measurements as well as highlights best practices for accurate assessments
During an interview with dvm360 at the 2025 Fetch dvm360 Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, Lance Visser, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Cardiology), associate professor of cardiology at the Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Fort Collins, discusses 2 primary ways to measure a patients heart size: vertebral heart size (VHS) and vertebral left atrial size (VLAS). VHS is a traditional length and width measurement of the cardiac silhouette, while VLAS is a newer, left-heart-specific measurement focusing on the width of the left atrium.
Below is a partial transcript, edited lightly for clarity …