Relationships of heart scores and postmortem cardiac measurements in congestive heart disease in feedlot cattle

Congestive heart failure (CHF) in feedyard cattle is of increasing concern among producers and can be difficult to diagnose definitively postmortem. In a cross-sectional observational study, we evaluated gross pathology findings, various heart measurements, and subjective heart scores (1-5 scale: 1 = normal, 5 = severely remodeled) to identify heart disease postmortem. In postmortem examinations of 346 feedyard deaths, we classified 106 (30.6%) cases as cardiac enlargement or misshapen ventricle (CEMV) when there was an abnormal heart shape or dilated ventricle(s), and no signs of infectious heart disease. CHF was defined as a CEMV case with chronic passive congestion of the liver (i.e., nutmeg liver) and ≥2 of the following lesions: serous or serosanguineous pleural, pericardial, or peritoneal effusion. Eleven of the 346 autopsied cattle were classified as having CHF. Descriptive statistics and multivariate models were used to identify statistical associations between objective heart measurements or subjective heart scores and the prevalence of CEMV or CHF. CEMV cases had significantly increased heart widths, thinner left ventricular free walls, and expanded right ventricular lumen areas (<i>p</i> <0.05). The CHF model did not converge because we had too few cases to be able to evaluate associations between CHF and variables of interest.