Pulmonary Parenchymal Disease Flashcards
Pulmonary Parenchymal Disease
List potential clinical signs:
- Respiratory Signs:
- Cough
- Exercise intolerance
- Tachypnoea
- Excessive panting
- Increased respiratory effort
- Respiratory Distress
- Systemic signs:
- Weight loss
- Lethargy
- Fever
- Lymphadenomegaly
- Distal limb swelling
- Reduced appetite
Diagnostic Evaluation of Pulmonary Parenchymal Disease
List useful diagnostic investigations
- Measurements of oxygenation
- SpO2
- PaO2
- A-a gradient calculation
- Screening Tests
- CBC / biochemistry / urine
- Rarely specific but may help identify concurrent or potentially causative disease (eosinophilia, uraemia, leukocytosis, other)
- Faecal floatation / Baerman technique
- Heartworm antigen testing (in endemic areas)
- PCR for systmic diseases with respiratory signs
- CBC / biochemistry / urine
- Natriuretic peptides - NT-proBNP
- Diagnostic Imaging
- Thoracic radiographs vs CT
- Echo to help exclude or define causative or concurrent cardiac disease
- Invasive Tests
- TTW or BAL (with or without bronchoscopy)
- Bronchoscopy
- Lung biopsy
- FNA of peripheral nodules
Discuss brain type natriuretic peptide metabolism and function.
- Natriuretic peptides including BNP are related hormones that affect circulatory homeostasis
- ProBNP is produced in cardiac myocytes
- ProBNP production is increased with increased myocyte stress due to increased vetricular blood volume
- ProBNP is cleaved to BNP and NT-ProBNP (inactive) upon release into the blood stream
- Through many effects, BNP lowers both preload and afterload
- BNP effects:
- vasodilatation
- Sympathetic nervous system inhibition
- RASS inhibition (inhibits renin secretion)
- Natriuresis
- Diuresis
- NT-ProBNP can be affected by kidney disease, hyperthyroidism or pulmonary hypertension.
List the various pulmonary parastites
- Paragonimus kellicotti
- Filaroides spp
- Aelurostrongylus abstrusus
- Crenosoma vulpis
- Oslerus osleri
- Eucoleus aerophilus
- Troglostrongylus spp
- Dirofiliaria immitis
- Angiostrongylus Vasorum
Aulurostrongylus abstrusis
Discuss lifecycle and pathogenesis of:
- Common feline lungworm
- Inflammation secondary to worm presence can lead to bronchiolar inflammation
- cough and wheeze are classical clinical signs
- Mature worms live in the bronchioles
- Female is ovoviviparous - eggs hatch within the adult
- L1 is coughed and swallowed to be passed in the faeces of the host
- L1 infects the intermediary host - mollusk
- Rodents, birds, amphibia, reptiles can act as transport hosts
- L1 develops to L3 in the intermediary or transport host
- L3 ingested by the cat - penetrates the gut wall and transports to the lung via lymphatics or blood stream
- Adults have developed by 8-9 days after infection
- L1 produced by 6 weeks post infection
Paragonimus kellicotti
Discuss lifecycle and pathogenesis of:
- Trematode lung fluke
- Infects dogs and cats
- Can form bullae or cysts within the pulmonary parenchyma
- Infected animals are usually well
- rupture of cysts or bullae can lead to haemoptysis or pneumothorax
- Crayfish is the intermediary host
- Parasite is ingested –> migrates from the intestine –> into the peritoneum –> across the diaphragm –> into subpleural tissues.
- Eosiophilic and neutrophilic inflammation of the subpleural tissues
- Ova are released into the airways –> bronchioles –> coughed, swallowed and passed in faeces.
- Ova can be identified in either faeces or BAL samples
- sedimentation techniques are preferred for ova identification
Filaroides spp
Discuss lifecycle and pathogenesis of:
- Uncommon parasites of dogs
- Adults reside in the alveolar spaces and terminal bronchiole
- Ovoviviparous - direct faecal oral transmission
- Can lead to transmission between infected dam and pups or between pups in a litter
- Repeat infection or autoinfection is also possible - can lead to super-infection
- Dogs are usually healthy while infected but can develop severe or even fatal disease
- Young and immunocompromised are most susceptible
- Can see diffuse bronchointerstitial or alveolar granulomatous infiltrates in reaction to dead/dying worms
- Ova/larva can be detected via BAL or in faeces
- Faecal detection has a poor sensitivity due to intermittent shedding
Oslerus (Filaroides) osleri
Discuss lifecycle and pathogenesis of:
- Direct trasmission without an intermediate host
- L1 is infective
- Mature adult lives in the distal trachea or proximal bronchi
- Can cause granulomatous mucosal nodules
- Usually a subclinical infection
- Cough is the primary sign
- Decreased or impaired mucocilliary clearance can lead to secondary bacterial infection
- Airway obstruction or pneumothorax can occur in rare cases
- Zinc sulphate centrifugal faecal floatation can identify larvae
- Mature worms can be visualised during bronchoscopy
Angiostrongylus vasorum
Discuss lifecycle and pathogenesis of:
- “French heartworm”
- Adults reside in the right heart, pulmonary arteries or pulmonary arterioles
- Eggs laid into the vessels are transported to the pulmonary capilliaries where they hatch.
- L1 migrate into the alveoli and are coughed and swallowed
- L1 infects intermediary (mollusk) or paratenic host (eg. frog)
- Baerman technique faecal exam or BAL identification
- Affected dogs can be healthy, show respiratory signs or a bleeding diathesis
- Bleeding may be due to a consumptive coagulopathy
- Bleeding may occur with or without respiratory signs
- Severe pulmonary hypertension and cor pulmonale occasionally occurs
- Pneumothorax is rare
- Thrombosing pulmonary arteritis can be severe
- Most common clinical presentation is chronic cough and ill-thrift
List the broad clinical signs seen with bacterial pneumonia
Respiratory Signs
- Cough (often soft and productive)
- Tachypnoea
- Respiratory distress
- Nasal discharge
- Increased / decreased bronchovesicular lung sounds
- Cyanosis
Systemic signs
- Lethargy and Anorexia
- Reduced body condition
- Variable fever
- Exercise intolerance
Discuss diagnostic screening tests for a patient with suspected bacterial pneumonia
- CBC - non specific and inconsistent changes
- neutrophilia +/- left shift
- lymphopenia
- mild anaemia
- biochemistry, urinalysis - screening for concurrent disease
- Faecal analysis - primarily to assess for concurrent parasitic infection
- Thoracic radiographs
- Classic - alveolar pattern with predominantly ventral distribution
- Lobar consolidation
- Dorso-caudal distribution may predominate in haematogenously spread pneumonia
- Less severe - interstitial changes only
- SPO2 or arterial blood gas
- Hypoxaemia is common - severity dependent
Discuss how bacterial pneumonia is diagnosed considering presumptive and definitive diagnosis and clinical implications
- Presumptive diagnosis is based on history, clinical signs, and results of screening tests including radiographs
- Definitive diagnosis requires identification of pulmonary sepsis - bacteria within neutrophils - on airway sampling together with a positive bacterial culture
- Note: a study (Proulx 2014) identified 26% of dogs for which empircal treatment was inappropriate. Further, 65% who had received antibiotics in the preceding 4 weeks had resistance to empirical antibiotics.
- Cultures can be negative even with definitive pneumonia
- Anaerobic culture should be considered when there is lobar pneumonia or consolidation.
- Mycoplasma PCR (or culture) should also be considered
Clinically, dogs with severe pneumonia are often unstable precluding the use of anaesthesia for collection of airway samples. If unstable, empirical antibiotic treatment as per ISCAID guidelines would be advised.
Discuss the various treatments utilised for bacterial pneumonia
- Antimicrobials
- Based on culture results ideally. Empircal treatment should be commenced after airways sampling with a view to altering the regime as required.
- Mild: monotherapy with amoxicillin/clavulanate, enrofloxacin or trimethoprim sulfonamide
- Moderate: Monontherapy or combination therapy - amoxicillin/clavulanate AND fluoroquinolone or Clindamycin AND fluoroquinolone
- Severe: monotherapy - imipenem, ticarcillin or combination with beta-lactam AND fluoroquinolone or aminoglycoside
- Based on culture results ideally. Empircal treatment should be commenced after airways sampling with a view to altering the regime as required.
- Oxygen supplementation
- Fluid therapy
- Physical therapy including coupage
- Nebulisation (saline)
- Bronchodilators
- Mucolytics
- Nutritional support
List viral causes of pneumonia in dogs and cats
Canine:
- Canine herpesvirus
- Canine infectious hepatitis (CAV-1)
- Canine parainfluenza
- Canine adenovirus type 2
- Canine respiratory coronavirus
- Canine influenza - uncommon
Feline
- Feline calicivirus
- Feline Herpesvirus
- Feline coronavirus (FIP)
Bordatella Bronchiseptica
Brief notes on pathogenesis and transmission:
- Airborne transmission
- Highly contagious
- Incubation period - 2-10 days
- Mild to severe clinical signs (more severe if lower respiratory tract is involved)
- Organism can be shed for 1 month or up to several months
- Adhesion molecules use to adhere bacteria to respiratory cilia
- Virulence factors including O antigen - outer capsule that protects from complement mediated lysis or phagocytosis
- Type III secretion systems - allow colonisation
- exotoxins - epithelial cell necrosis
- adenylate cyclase toxin
- Colonisation triggers altered epithelial cell function and over-production of mucus - this further impairs the immune system and can lead to secondary infections