Pericardial Diseases Flashcards
What are the two parts of the pericardium?
- Parietal pericardium
- Visceral pericardium
What is the true pericardium?
- Parietal pericardium
What must occur for cardiac tamponade to occur?
- Pressure from pericardium is normally 0
- When pericardial pressure exceeds the pressure of the right atrium, tamponade can occur
- Pericardial pressure must exceed 5
When do you start to get clinical signs with pericardial effusion?
- When you have cardiac tamponade
What would clinical signs be with pericardial effusion?
- Heart sounds muffled, but lung sounds are fine
- Precordium can be absent or shifted
What would clinical signs be with cardiac tamponade?
- Collapsed
- Sedated
- Exercise intolerant
- Jugular distension or pulsation and possible ascites
- Often animals are tachycardic because they can’t get enough blood into their heart
- Pulsus paradoxus
Pulsus paradoxus definition
- When the animal inspires, the pulses are weaker; when you expire they are stronger
Pathophysiology of pulsus paradoxus
- In a normal individual, when your chest gets wider, your pleural pressures drop
- Negative pressure pulls your pericardium and right heart wider
- Improved right ventricular filling and decreased left heart filling because the interventricular septum is shared
Historical findings of animals with pericardial effusion?
- Collapse/syncope
- Weakness/depression/exercise intolerance
- Tachypnea
- Right sided abdominal enlargement
Radiographic findings of pericardial effusion
- Enlargement of the cardiac silhouette (+/- globoid)
- Sharp, well demarcated edges of the heart
- Distension of the caudal vena cava (as right atrium is getting squashed)
- Small pulmonary vessels** (lungs are not receiving as much blood)
- Mass effects (mediastinal deviation of the trachea)
- Abdominal effusion
Three radiographic hallmarks of pericardial effusion**
- Enlarged cardiac silhouette (globoid or subtle)
- Small pulmonary vasculature
- Distension of the caudal vena cava
ECG findings for pericardial effusion
- Decreased QRS amplitude (often <1 mV)
- Electrical alternans (short and tall Q wave)
- Other - VPCs, supraventricular tachycardia due to irritation of the myocardium
Echocardiogram findings of pericardial effusion
- Ultrasound shows a distinction between cardiac enlargement and pericardial effusion
- Right atrium may be compressed if you have cardiac tamponade
Emergency treatment for pericardial effusion short term goal
- Increase preload to force blood into the heart
What is the emergency short term treatment for pericardial effusion?
- IV catheter - rapid IV fluid administration
- Crystalloids
- Start with a quarter shock bolus while you prepare to tap (90 mL/kg * 4 = 20mL/kg IV bolus OR trick is to take weight in lbs and add a zero)
- E.g. give a 60 lb dog 600 mLs
- NO DIURETICS!!!
Long term goal of pericardial effusion therapy
- Relieve tamponade and determine etiology
What are the two purposes of pericardiocentesis?
- Diagnostic and therapeutic
What samples do you collect for pericardiocentesis?
- Cytology and culture
- Purple and red top
What are the three primary types of fluid you could get back from a cytology?
- Exudates
- Transudates
- Hemorrhage
What are some dfdx for transudates?
- Hernias
- Cysts
- CHF
- Hypoproteinemia
- Heart basedmass (chemodectoma)
DfDx for exudates?
- Foreign body (e.g. grass awn, quills)
- Nocardia
- Fungal
- FIP in cats
- Idiopathic inflammation
Dfdx for hemorrhagic effusion?
- Neoplasia (#1 hemangiosarcoma, #2 chemodectoma, #3 way down ectopic thyroid carcinoma, lymphosarcoma)
- Coagulopathy (retroperitoneal bleeding, peritoneal bleeding)
- Idiopathic (Golden Retrievers might be more predisposed)
Cytology for pericardial fluid analysis - are many of them diagnostic?
- No, less than 8% of cytologies were diagnostic
- Only really send it off if you think it will be exudative or if it looks strange
What is the #1 differential for a case of hemorrhagic pericardial effusion?
- Hemangiosarcoma
Where is the most common location for a hemangiosarcoma in the heart?
Right auricular tip