Farm animal CV disease Flashcards
Most common cause of pericarditis - cattle?
Bacterial
Most common cause of pericarditis - horses?
Idiopathic
Define septic pericarditis
Bacteria but from a different original location to the heart
Outline the different causes of pericardial disease -5
SEPTIC PERICARDITIS - traumatic and embolic causes, commonest form in cattle
IDIOPATHIC (SPONTANEOUS AND NON-SEPTIC) - pericardial effusions, most common form in horses
PRIMARY BACTERIAL PERICARDITIS - most common form in pigs
NEOPLASTIC - uncommon in LAs
VIRAL - uncommon in LAs.
Pathogenesis - traumatic pericarditis
Ingestion of wires/nails –> forced through wall of reticulm into peritoneal cavity, through diaphragm into pericardial sac –> septic fluid, fibrous ‘cheesy’ exudate, adhesions (bread and butter pudding), gas within pericardial sac. May also have reticular abscesses, liver abscess, peritonitis.
Clinical signs - traumatic peridcarditis
EARLY: fever, anorexia, depression, cranial abdominal, reticular and thoracic pain (stand with elbows abducted, reluctant to move or grunt/groan when moving. Positive Williams test, Bar test and Pinch test)
LATER: right -sided (Constrictive) HF, venous congestion, peripheral oedema
CVS EXAM: tachycardia, muffled heart sounds, +/- splashing washing machine murmurs, venous distension (enlarged milk vein), raised jugular pulse, weak pulse
Describe the Williams test
Listen to the rumen, when this contracts the animal grunts due to pain (positive result)
Describe the Bar Test
Put metal bar under cow and lift up against xiphoid process - positive if there is a painful reaction to this.
Describe the Pinch Test
The whithers are pinched and an audible groan and/or sound in the trachea is heard if the animal is in pain and this is a positive result.
Diagnosis - Traumatic pericarditis
Mostly done on clinical exam (finances)
Radiography - high value animals
Ultrasound - most farm vets
Pericardiocentesis (only with ultrasound!)
Treatment - traumatic pericarditis
Must animals culled
Treatment = surgical in expensive animals: remove via a rumenotomy OR marsupialise the pericardial sac, debride and lavage via a rib thoracotomy approach.
Why shouldn’t you ever use >1 ruminal bolus?
They repel each other!
Outline lymphosarcoma in cattle
Animals positive for bovine leukaemia virus (BLV)
Lymphoma masses may develop in right atrial wall or pericardium.
Causes of pericarditis in pigs? 2
Effects?
Haemophilus parasuis (Glasser's disease) - commonest Strep. suis
EFFECTS: fever, depression, fibrinos poly-serositis (in joints), effusions (CNS, pleura, peritoneum and synovia)
Pathogenesis - pericardial effusions in horses
Majority are idiopathic
Minority are pericarditis (EVA, EIV, Strep. pneumoniae, E.coli, Actinobacillus equili, tend to develop fibrinous effusion)
Penicillin is the drug of choice initially.
Clinical signs - pericardial effusions - horses - 5
- Venous distension
- Ventral oedema
- Muffled heart sounds
- Pericardial friction rubs (squeaky, easy to miss)
- Pleural effusion (dyspnoea, dullness on percussion, smaller lung field on auscultation)
Diagnosis - pericardial effusions - horses - 3
ECHO: fluid +/- fibrin in pericardial sac, compression of cardiac chambers
ECG: small complexes, main differential is obesity
CYTOLOGY OF PERICARDIAL FLUID