Small Animal Gastrointestinal Flashcards
Define chelitis, glossitis, gingivitis, stomatitis, gingivomastitis, tonsilitis and pharyngitis.
Chelitis – inflammation of the lips
Glossitis – inflammation of the tongue
Gingivitis – inflammation of the gums
Stomatitis – inflammation of the oral mucosa/whole mouth
Gingivostomatitis – inflammation of the gums and oral mucosa
Tonsilitis – inflammation of the tonsils
Pharyngitis – inflammation of the pharynx
What are some primary swallowing disorders?
- Difficulty lapping or forming a bolus
- Audible noise when swallowing
- Gulping excessively – persistent and ineffective swallowing
- Dropping food
- Gagging, retching
- Regurgitation food/liquid
What are some secondary swallowing disorders?
- Halitosis
- Nasal discharge
- Coughing, dyspnoea
- Blood tinged saliva
- Failure to thrive
- Backing away from food, interested in food but reluctance to eat
What history should be taken when trying to assess regurgitation?
- Regurgitation versus vomiting
- Oesophageal foreign body likely?
- Any medications?
- Recent anaesthesia?
- Any other gastrointestinal signs?
- Generalised neuromuscular clinical signs?
- Coughing or dyspnoea?
Distinguish regurgitation and vomiting.
Regurgitation - passive, no abdominal effort, immediate/delayed after eating, neutral pH, brainstem not involved
Vomiting - active, abdominal effort and heaving, delayed after eating, acidic, brainstem involved in neural reflex
What do you assess in full clinical examination of regurgitation cases?
- Generalised vs. localised disease
- Neurological examination?
- Hydration/volaemic status
- Body condition
What do you assess in sedation/GA examination of regurgitation cases?
- Pre-anaesthetic blood tests
- Difficulty opening mouth
- Airway obstruction
- Brachycephalic breeds
- Reflux and aspiration
What can you examine in an oropharyngeal examination?
- Trauma/foreign bodies
- Pain on palpation – head and jaw
- Dental disease
- Lip folds, mucous membranes and tonsils
- Muscle mass – generalised/localised with any changes in muscle mass that could indicate a neuromuscular issue
- Jaw opening
- Check under tongue – string foreign bodies, masses
What can be present in the oral cavity that could cause swallowing disorders?
- Oral masses and inflammatory
- Ulceration or burns
- Salivary gland disease – referral for CT and salivary gland sampling
How do you assess the masticatory muscles?
- Creatinine kinase
- Anti-2M antibodies for MMM/masticatory muscle myositis
- AChR antibiodies for myasthenia gravis
- Muscle biopsy
Distinguish structural and functional dysphagia.
Structural – caused by a structural abnormality. Foreign body, mass lesion – inflammatory, cyst, granuloma, abscess, neoplasia
Functional – caused by a functional abnormality. Normal physical exam, neuromuscular issue
Distinguish pseudoptyalism and ptyalism.
Pseudoptyalism – physiological in response to food (normal), conformation, dysphagia including obstructive disease
Ptyalism/hypersalivation – bitter taste, drugs, oral disease/ulceration, nausea, acid reflux (GERDs), rabies, hepatic encephalopathy in cats
Name some internal and external causes of halitosis.
Internal:
- Respiratory disease
- Gastric disease – poor gastric emptying
- Metabolic disease, such as renal disease
External:
- Peri-anal disease
- Coprophagia
Name 4 differential diagnoses for swallowing disorders.
Oral pain
Oral mass
Oral trauma
Neuromuscular disease
What are some structural oesophageal differential diagnoses?
- Luminal
- Intramural – neoplasia sitting in wall of the oesophagus
- Extramural – mass nearby the oesophagus, not actually in the wall
- Strictures
What are some functional oesophageal differential diagnoses?
- Nerves or neuromuscular junctions
- Muscles
- Primary disease
- Secondary disease - metabolic, endocrinopathies (hypothyroidism, hypoadrenocorticism)
Name some congenital and acquired structural oesophageal disease.
Congenital – vascular ring anomaly
Acquired – foreign body, neoplasia, gastro-oesophageal intussusception
What is functional gastro-oesophageal reflux?
- Reflux of gastric acid and enzymes into the oesophagus
- Leads to inflammation
What are some acute and some chronic causes of functional gastro-oesophageal reflux?
Acute – during anaesthesia
Chronic – obesity, lower oesophageal sphincter disease
What is GERD?
Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease
What are 3 causes of GERD?
- Hiatal hernia: congenital/age-related
- Lower oesophageal sphincter dysfunction
- Underlying chronic enteropathy
What are the causes of oesophagitis?
- Peri-anaesthetic reflex
- Ingestion of caustic chemical, hot liquids/foods, foreign bodies, irritants (doxycycline)
- Chronic GERD
- Persistent vomiting
- Oesophagitis can lead to oesophageal strictures – iatrogenic oesophagitis can also occur after stricture dilation
- Excessive stomach acid – gastrinoma, mast cell tumour
What are some causes of focal megaoesophagus?
- Vascular ring anomaly – heart-base location in young dog
- Foreign body
- Stricture
- Space occupying lesion
What is a risk of megaoesophagus?
Aspiration pneumonia
What are the clinical signs of aspiration pneumonia?
Tachypnoea
Pyrexia
Lethargy
Inappetence
Name 7 differential diagnoses for diffuse megaoesophagus and how each of these is diagnosed.
- Idiopathic megaoesophagus - exclude all other differentials
- Myasthenia gravis - AChR antibodies
- Diffuse oesophagitis - history, endoscopy
- Hypoadrenocorticism - ACTH stim test
- Hypothyroidism - T4/TSH
- Neuromuscular disease - neuro exam, CK, EMGs
- Dysautonomia - rare, other signs
What can give false megaoesophagus?
Radiograph conscious as some anaesthetic drugs can cause oesophageal dilation, giving a false megaoesophagus.
Which blood tests are used to investigate swallowing disorders?
- Routine haematology and biochemistry
- Electrolytes
- cPLi/fPLi – if suspect pancreatitis leading to nausea
- Pre-anaesthetic profile in older patient if GA needed
How are swallowing disorders investigated with radiogrpahy?
- Dental radiography
- Whole skull radiography/jaw radiography – bone lysis from osteomyelitis, neoplasia
- Neck radiography
- Thoracic radiography – ideally inflated 3 views for metastasis assessment if suspicious about neoplasia
How are swallowing disorders investigated with ultrasonography?
- POCUS (TFAST and AFAST) – trauma and effusions, if patient has breathing problems
- Assess organs – neoplasia, abnormalities on bloods
- Ultrasound-guided cystocentesis or FNA
How are swallowing disorders investigated using CT?
- Reveals smaller thoracic metastases
- 3D skull assessment
- Cellulitis/abscesses associated with foreign bodies or retrobulbar disease
- Salivary gland assessment
How is reflex and regurgitation investigated?
- Haematology
- Serum biochemistry
- Survey neck and chest radiography
How should we remove an oesophageal foreign body?
Surgery can cause oesophageal damage or strictures. Endoscopy
What is a risk of contrast radiography to investigate regurgitation disorders?
Barium mixed with food/liquid - high risk of aspiration
What is fluoroscopy?
Dynamic conscious x-ray, moving image can watch patient eat and swallowing
What can fluoroscopy diagnose?
- Swallowing – diagnosis of dysphagia/regurgitation
- Evaluation of intermittent pathology – such as, sliding hiatal hernia
- Respiratory – diagnosis of airway collapse
When is endoscopy indicated?
- To retrieve foreign body
- To evaluate for hiatal hernia (after other imaging)
- To evaluate for/dilate stricture
When is endoscopy contraindicated?
If megaoesophagus already shown
How can swallowing disorders be managed?
- Dentistry
- Specific therapies for masticatory muscle disease
- Consider nutrition – wet food/slurry? Feeding tubes?
- Manage nausea
How can regurgitation be managed?
- Correct the underlying disease if possible
- Positional feeding
- Medications
How can the underlying diseases of regurgitation be corrected?
- Neuromuscular or endocrine disease – treat as appropriate
- Hiatal hernias often managed successfully without surgery
- Myasthenia gravis – anticholinesterase drugs
- Oesophageal foreign body – endoscopic retrieval
- Oesophageal stricture – balloon dilation
- Vascular ring anomaly – surgery
- BOAS – surgical?
What is positional/postural feeding essential for?
Megaoesophagus – until function normal, prokinetics are of no benefit/LES drugs cause harm
How does omeprazole work?
- Proton pump inhibitor
- Irreversibly binds H + secretion
What is the effect of cisapride?
- Stimulates intestinal 5-HT 4 receptors
- Increased lower oesophageal sphincter tone
- Decreased pyloric tone, propulsive peristaltic waves throughout whole GI tract
When is cisapride indicated?
GERD
Feline idiopathic megacolon
Pro-motility agent in other species
What is used if cisapride is not tolerated?
Metoclopramide – to facilitate gastric emptying may be of value
What is sucralfate?
- Complex of sucrose octasulphate and aluminium hydroxide
- Precipitates and binds ulcerated tissue (oesophagus, stomach) – chemical diffusion barrier
What should be considered when medicating with sucralfate?
- Avoid direct co-administration with acid blockers (1-2 hours apart)
- Impedes absorption of quinolones, tetracyclines, digoxin
What is ‘pink lady’?
Antacid and lidocaine (referral)
How is GERD managed?
- Postural feeding – little and often
- Low fat to facilitate gastric emptying
- Consider hydrolysed diet if concurrent chronic enteropathy
- Weight management
- Acid blockers – omeprazole
- LES drugs – cisapride
How is oesophagitis managed?
- Oesophageal rest – gastrotomy tube?
- Reintroducing food – soft, bland food, small, frequent meals, low fat diet if gastro-oesophageal reflux
- Acid blockade – omeprazole
- Coating agents – sucralfate
- Improve lower oesophageal sphincter tone – cisapride
- Facilitate gastric emptying – metoclopramide
- NSAIDs
- Weight loss, low fat diet
What are the possible complications of regurgitation?
- Malnutrition
- Dehydration
- Anorexia or (perceived) polyphagia
- Reflux pharyngitis/rhinitis – nasal discharge
- Aspiration pneumonia – cough, dyspnoea, pyrexia
- Sometimes swallowing pain
How are the complications of regurgitation managed?
- Diagnose and manage GERD and stricture early
- Aspiration pneumonia
- Consider nutritional requirements/management pre-operatively
Outline acute and chronic onset of vomiting and diarrhoea.
Acute – most are under 1 week, definitely under 3 weeks
Chronic – over 3 week duration
What are the clinical signs of acute gastrointestinal disease?
- Vomiting
- Diarrhoea
- Variable appetite
- Flatus, borborygmi, bloating, eructation
- Haematemesis
- Melaena/fresh blood in faeces
- Weight loss
Name the 4 stages of vomiting.
Prodromal (nausea)
Retching
Expulsion
Relaxation
How can vomiting be classified?
- Active, abdominal effort, brainstem involvement
- Gastric and upper intestinal content
- Gastrointestinal or extra-gastrointestinal disease
What are the characteristics of small intestinal diarrhoea?
Large volume
Normal frequency
No urgency
With/without other signs of SI disease:
- Malabsorption, weight loss – clinical, laboratory
- Inappetence vs. polyphagia, coprophagia or pica
- Gas production
What are the characteristics of large intestinal diarrhoea?
- Small volume
- Increased frequency
- With urgency
- With straining (tenesmus)
- With difficulty (dyschezia)
- With/without blood (haematochezia) or mucus
What is involved in the physical examination of acute gastrointestinal disease?
- Consider PPE/barrier nursing
- Hydration and fluid status – dehydrated? Hypovolaemic?
- Assess pain and localise
- Palpable abnormality?
- Evidence of systemic disease
- Rectal examination
What are some primary causes of vomiting and diarrhoea?
- Mass lesions
- Inflammatory disease
- Dietary indiscretions/intolerances
- GI ulceration
- Obstructive lesions – foreign bodies, torsions, intussusception, stricture,
- Toxins/drugs
What are some extra-gastrointestinal causes of vomiting and diarrhoea?
Pancreatic disease
Renal disease
Hepatic disease
Endocrine disease
Pyometra
Peritonitis
Systemic inflammatory or neoplastic disease
Motion sickness
Vestibular disease
Drugs
What are some examples of aspects of a history that direct us towards primary gastrointestinal disease?
- Known foreign body ingestion
- Palpable GI mass lesion
- Haematemesis/melaena
- Young puppy/kitten with worms in diarrhoea
What are the clinical signs of acute pancreatitis?
- Vomiting
- Diarrhoea (less common)
- Inappetence
- Abdominal pain
- Pyrexia – sterile inflammatory response
- Jaundice? Because of where the pancreas sits, it may affect other structures in that area, such as extra-hepatic bile duct obstruction
Distinguish the onsets of acute and chronic pancreatitis.
Acute - sudden onset
Chronic - waxing/waning, may be persistently symptomatic or have intermittent episodes
Distinguish the inflammation of acute and chronic pancreatitis.
Acute - variable severity
Chronic - progressive inflammatory/fibrosis cycles
Distinguish the prognoses of acute and chronic pancreatitis.
Acute - potentially fully reversible
Chronic - end stage can result in EPI/eccrine pancreatic insufficiency or DM/diabetes mellitus
What are the possible triggers of pancreatitis?
- Idiopathic
- Hyperlipaemia – dietary indiscretion is common, obesity, hyperlipidaemia – too much lipid in the blood, makes blood viscous, reduces oxygenation
- Miniature Schnauzers breed disposition
- Blunt abdominal trauma
- Hypoperfusion – hypovolaemia, lipaemia?
- Drug related – KBr, phenobarbitone, azathioprine, L-asparaginase, glucocorticoids
- Immune mediated
What are the local and systemic effects of pancreatitis?
Local enzyme release – localised pancreatitis, fat necrosis of fat around the pancreas
Systemic enzyme effects – acute kidney injury, cardiac arrhythmias, effusions, shock, SIRS, DIC, death
What are the possible species causing bacterial enterocolitis?
E. coli, Clostridium perfringens, Campylobacter spp. and Salmonella spp. can all be isolated from healthy dogs faeces so how do we know which bacteria are causing clinical signs
What are the risk factors of bacterial enterocolitis?
Raw fed
Young
Unsanitary/crowded environment
What are the clinical signs of bacterial enterocolitis?
Haemorrhagic vomiting and/or diarrhoea
Pyrexia
Sepsis
With/without abdominal pain
Enterotoxaemia is possible
How can bacterial enterocolitis be diagnosed?
Culture to evaluate for parvovirus
PCR to speciate
ELISA for toxins
What are the characteristics of acute haemorrhagic diarrhoea syndrome?
Marked haemoconcentration, can have vomiting, bloody gelatinous diarrhoea
What is the pathogenesis of C.perfringes causing acute haemorrhagic diarrhoea syndrome?
- NetF toxin leads to pore formation in enterocytes
- Fluid leakage into intestines leading to diarrhoea
Which breed is over-represented for acute haemorrhagic gastroenteritis?
Miniature Schnauzer
What are the consequences of acute haemorrhagic diarrhoea syndrome?
- Abdominal pain
- Obtundation
- Extreme fluid losses into gut lumen – hypovolaemic shock rapidly, marked haemoconcentration
How is acute haemorrhagic diarrhoea syndrome diagnosed?
- Clinical signs
- Marked elevation in PCV without commensurate increase in proteins
- Exclude other causes with similar presentations (acute dietary indiscretion/intoxication, acute pancreatitis, hypoadrenocorticism, parvovirus, other bacterial enteritides and intussusception)
What is the epidemiology of parvovirus?
Faeco-oral spread – very effective: large quantities shed in diarrhoea, low infective dose, resistant virus – remains infective for up to 1 year
Inactivated by formalin and hypochlorite disinfectants
What are the clinical signs of parvovirus?
- Haemorrhagic diarrhoea – anorexia, depression, abdominal pain, considerable fluid deficits
- With/without vomiting
- Neutropenia
What is the consequence queens being infected with feline parvovirus/feline panleukopenia/feline infectious enteritis during pregnancy?
- Can lead to cerebellar hypoplasia in kittens
- Hypermetric ataxia and intention tremors
What is the signalment of tritchomonas foetus?
Kittens, young cats under 12-18months of age, maturity leads to an effective immune response
What are the clinical signs of tritchomonas foetus?
- Asymptomatic – chronic recurrent large intestinal diarrhoea
- With/without peri-anal oedema
- With/without faecal incontinence
What are the consequences of acute gastrointestinal disease?
- Dehydration – may lead to pre-renal azotaemia
- Acid-base disturbance
- Aspiration pneumonia – especially if sedated/neuromuscular disease/upper airway incompetency