Chronic GI Disease Flashcards
Obj: Given a patient w/ chronic GI signs:
- Differentiate between primary and secondary GI disease
- Formulate an empirical treatment plan based on localization of clinical signs, most likely responses, and possible treatment side-effects
Obj: For diet trials: describe how different diet types work and identify specific examples in each category
Obj: Differentiate how microbiota-targeted therapies work and describe evidence for/against use
Obj: For dogs and Cats w/ Idiopathic IBD:
- Formulate a medication plan based on available clinical and laboratory results
- Discuss prognosis, including negative prognostic indicators w/ owners
Obj: For infectious diseases:
- List major routes of transmission, tissues affected, SI or LI clinical signs
- Based on a case scenario, prioritize differentials based on the above and unique systemic or laboratory findings and choose the best diagnostic test
- For a specific patient, decide whether treatment is needed and formulate a treatment plan
What is a ‘Chronic Enteropathy’?
- GI signs ≥ 3-4 weeks duration
- Non-GI disease has been excluded
- Includes:
- GI neoplasia
- GI infectious disease
- Idiopathic inflammatory disease
What is the diagnostic approach to chronic GI disease?
- Rule-out systemic disease
- Baseline blood work
- Urinalysis
- Baseline Cortisol (dogs)
- T4 (cats)
- specPL (Pancreatic lipase; select cases)
- Bile acids (select cases)
Obj: For Feline CE:
- Contrast common imaging and laboratory findings vs dogs
- Adjust diagnostic and treatment plans based on unique feline physiology, most common differentials, and nutrient deficiencies
What are the common enteropathogens? (Viruses, protozoa, bacteria, fungi, parasites, and misc)
- Viruses:
- Parvovirus
- Coronavirus
- Rotavirus
- Protozoa
- Giardia
- Tritrichomonas
- Cryptosporidium
- Bacteria
- Clostridium
- Campylobacter
- Salmonella
- E.coli
- Fungi
- Histoplasma
- Parasites
- Hookworms
- Roundworms
- Stomach worms
- Whipworms
- Heterobilharzia
- Misc:
- Neorickettsia
- Prototheca
- Pythium
What is Helicobacter spp?
- Etiologic agent:
- Gram negative
- microaerophilic
- spiral bacteria
- Normal Flora in:
- 70-100% of healthy dogs
- 40-100% of healthy cats
What are the clinical signs of a Helicobacter infection?
- Most asymptomatic
- +/- Chronic vomiting
- No relation to GI ulceration
How is a Helicobacter spp. Infection diagnosed?
-
Histopathology
- Spiral bacteria in association w/ gastric mucosa
- Squash prep cytology
- PCR
- Rapid urease test
- does have false positives (other urease producing bacteria - E. coli, Proteus)
- Response to treatment
What is the treatment for Helicobacter spp infections?
- Combination therapy for 3 wks
- Amoxicillin + azithromycin/clarithromycin + bismuth subsalicylate +/- omeprazole
What is Heterobilharzia?
- Etiology: Trematode parasite (Heterobilharzia americanum)
- Geographic risk: US Gulf Coast
How is Heterobilharzia americanum transmitted?
- Cercaria form of organism penetrates dog skin (snail intermediate host)
- Organism migration to liver
- Eggs laid in mesenteric venules
- Migration of organisms through GI wall
- Severe granulomatous inflammation
What are the clinical signs of Heterobilharzia?
- LI or SI diarrhea
- Vomiting
- Weight loss
- +/- liver failure, renal failure
How is Heterobilharzia diagnosed?
- Chemistry panel
- Hypercalcemia
- Hypoalbuminemia +/- hyperglobulinemia
- Elevated liver enzymes
- Azotemia
- Cytology or histopathology from liver
- Intestinal biopsies
- Fecal sedimentation or PCR
What is the treatment for Heterobilharzia?
- Praziquantel
- Fenbendazole
What is the prognosis of Heterobilharzia?
- Acute: Good
- Chronic: Guarded-poor
- Chronic Carriers possible
- Hypercalcemia, acute azotemia do NOT affect prognosis
What is Giardia?
- Etiologic Agents: Giardia duodenalis (Binucleated flagellate)
- Pathogenesis:
- 2 forms: trophozoite and cyst
- Trophozoite lives in Small intestine
- Fecal oral transmission
- 2 forms: trophozoite and cyst
What is the common signalment of animals w/ Giardia?
- Young (<1-2 years)
- Immunocompromised
- Steroids (recrudescence)
- Group-housed animals
What are the clinical signs of Giardia?
- Small intestinal diarrhea (acute or chronic)
- Cats may have mucoid diarrhea
How is Giardia diagnosed?
- ZnSO4 centrifugation-flotation
- Intermittent shedding
- 95% sensitivity w/ 3 repeated tests
-
Immunoassays (fecal antigen)
- SNAP point-of-care: good sensitivity (90%) and specificity (99%)
- Direct IFA (fecal cysts)
- High discordance between antigen and cyst-based tests
- false negatives common
What is the treatment/prevention for Giardia?
- Treatment: Fenbendazole 50 mg/kg q24h for 5 days
- Prevention:
- Treat all group-housed animals
- Clean/disinfect environment
- Bathe at beginning/end of treatment
How is Histoplasmosis transmitted?
- Inhalation or ingestion
- Intracellular yeast replication
- results in Granulomatous inflammation
What are the clinical signs of Histoplasmosis?
- GI histoplasmosis more common in dogs
- SI or LI diarrhea
- Protein-losing enteropathy - Panhypoproteinemia, effusion, edema
- Weight loss
- Concurrent respiratory disease, ocular disease, cytopenia, fever
How is Histoplasmosis diagnosed?
- Urine histoplasma antigen
- Cytology/Histopathology
- Rectal scrape
- Intra-abdominal LN, liver, spleen
- GI endoscopy
- If systemic: Bone marrow aspirate, lung aspirate, skin lesion impression cytology, aqueocentesis
What is the treatment for Histoplasmosis?
- Itraconazole 10 mg/kg q24h for at least 6 months
- Fluconazole 5 mg/kg q12h for at least 6 months
- treatment of choice w/ ocular or CNS involvement
What is the prognosis for Histoplasmosis?
Guarded to poor for severe GI involvement
What is Pythium insidiosum? hosts? location?
- Aquatic oomycete organism
- Causes GI infiltration and pyogranulomatous inflammation
- Located in the Gulf States
- Come from warm, swamp water or fields post-flooding
- Large breed, male dogs, less than 3yo most commonly affected
What are the clinical signs of a Pythium insidiosum infection?
- Mass lesions resulting in partial or complete GI obstruction
- transmural pyloric-duodenal thickening
- Small intestinal diarrhea
- Weight loss
How is a Pythium insidiosum infection diagnosed?
- Baseline bloodwork
- CBC: Eosinophilia
- Chemistry: Panhypoproteinemia, hypercalcemia
- Histopathology:
- Granulomatous inflammation with special stains to identify organism
- branching, non-septate or poorly septate hyphae
- Granulomatous inflammation with special stains to identify organism
- Serum ELISA or PCR
What is the treatment for a Pythium insidiosum infection?
- Combination of:
- surgical excision
- +herbicide (mefenoxam)
- +antifungals (itraconazole, terbinafine)
- +/- Vaccination
what is the prognosis for a Pythium insidiosum infection?
- Poor to grave
- Poorly responsive to therapy
What is Prototheca?
Unicellular, achlorophyllous organism related to green algae