Hepatic causes of weight loss Flashcards
4 hepatic diseases that cause weight loss
▪Theiler’s disease or serum associated hepatitis
▪Ragwort poisoning (pyrrolizidine alkaloid toxicosis)
▪ Cholangiohepatitis
▪ Cholelitiasis
Clinical signs
- Usually non-specific
- Depression
- Anorexia
- Weight loss
- Abdominal discomfort (colic)
- Icterus
- Fever
- Photosensitization
- Hepatic encephalopathy: circling, walking compulsively, head pressing
What do CS result from?
- hepatic failure
- more than 75% of liver must be damaged
Weight loss due to
- anorexia
- abnormal metabolism
Colic, diarrhoea, ascites due to
▪Hepatic swelling
▪Portal hypertension
▪Altered microflora
▪Abnormal bile acids
Altered behaviour (hepatic encephalopathy) due to
▪GI-derived neurotoxins (NH3)
▪↑ GABAergic tone
▪Altered benzodiazepine receptors
▪↑ Neurosteroid synthesis
▪↑ Manganese (neuronal loss)
▪False neurotransmitters
▪↑ Cytokines
▪↑ BBB permeability & altered energy metabolism
▪ Hepatic encephalopathy alters behaviour and mentation in horses with hepatic failure
▪ It worsens anorexia in horses with hepatic failure
Theiler’s disease
= Serum associated hepatitis
▪ Most common cause of acute hepatitis in horses
▪ Associated to equine blood products
▪Equine Parvovirus (Evidence of association!)
– Vertical transmission reported
– Strong circumstantial evidence of biting flies transmission
– Nasal transmission?
▪Equine Hepacivirus
– Cannot be ruled-out as cause yet
– Similitudes with HVC blood-to-blood likely
Pyrralozidine alkaloid toxicosis (cause)
= Ingestion of pyrrolizidine alkaloid containing plants ▪Amsinckia intermedia , Senecio spp., Crotalaria spp.
▪Ingestion of plants or contaminated feed
▪CS of hepatic failure 1-12 month after ingestion
▪Contaminated feed - most common pellets
▪Green plants not palatable
Cholangiohepatitis (causes)
▪Ascending bacterial infection:
– Salmonellas spp., Klebsiella spp., E. coli., others
▪Sepsis:
– Systemic spread into the liver
Cholelithiasis
▪Stone formation in biliary ducts/obstruction
▪Etiology unknown
▪Bacterial infection is a component of disease
