Topic 23 - Chronic hepatitis, familiar liver diseases in dogs Flashcards
Chronic liver disease
End stage liver disease
Liver fibrosis: reversible carring
Liver chirrhosis: scarring to spread
Chronic hepatitis
A group of inflammatory or necrotising liver diseaseS, it is not one disease only
Main causes for liver diseases:
Pathophysiological causes:
- Familial
- Infective
- Drugs
Other types of hepatitis:
4. Lobular dissection hepatitis
5. Idiopathic hepatitis
Which infectious agents can cause liver disease?
Infectious canine hepatitis
Adenovirus - Rubarth’s
Leptospirosis
Helicobacter
Which breeds are predisposed (familial) for liver disease:
Bedlington terrier
Dalmatian
Doberman
Westie
Cocker spaniel
Labrador
Poodle
Which drugs can give liver disease?
- Antieplietics
- Oxibendazole
- Carprofen - Labrador !!
- Amiodarone - Dobermann !!
Cause for chronic hepatitis?
Poorly understood. Can be:
- Copper accumulation
- Infective
- Immune mechanism; maybe from virus etc
- Idoiopathic
Chronic hepatitis
Clinical signs
Rare, mostly subclinical:
- Anorexia
- icterus
- ascites
- PU/PD
PolyUria, PolyDipsia
Chronic hepatitis
Lab findings
- Elevated ALT
- Slightly elevated or normal AST, ALKP, GGT
- Do biopsy if liver function tests are elevated
Disease(s) which bedlington terrier is predisposed to
Copper storage disease
Copper storage in liver:
Copper is stored in hepatocyte lysosomes. when it cannot enter the bile or have a high copper diet, it accumulates in the hepatocytes.
The copper storage disease is dependent on if the dog is heterozygote or homozygote !!
Copper concentrations in dogs who are carriers (heterozygous) return to normal by 1 year of age, whereas copper concentrations in homozygous dogs continues to increase
We have primary and secondary !!
Primary copper storage disease:
Prone in some breeds
Secondary copper storage disease:
Copper levels are not as high as in primary
Copper storage disease in homozygote animals
Depends on age
1. Young: Early phase, Cu in lysosomes, no structural damage
2. Young Adult: Haemolytic anaemia
3. Young-middle aged: early stage of chronic form, progressive elevation of Cu
4. Old-middle aged: chronic hepatitis with increased ALT, weight loss, ascites, jaundice
Copper storage disease in heterozygote animals
Quick Cu increase, peaking at 7-9 months and return to normal at 9-14 months
Do PCR to identify the gene, and recognise the affected animals - exclude from breeding
Treatment for copper storage disease
- D-penicillamine: Chelates copper, urine excretion
- Zn salt: Decrese intestinal absoprtion of Cu
- Low copper diet (liver diet)
Disease(s) which West highland terrier is predisposed to
- Copper accumulation
- Chronic hepatitis
Disease(s) which Labrador is predisposed to
Copper accumulation
Chronic hepatitis
Disease(s) which Dobermann is predisposed to
Idiopathoc immune-mediated chronic hepatitis
Disease(s) which Cocker spaniel is predisposed to
Degenerative vacoular hepatopathy
Small fluid-filler cavities develop in the liver
Disease(s) which Poodle is predisposed to
Lobular dissection hepatitis
Treatment for chronic hepatitis
- Eliminate the cause (might not always be possible)
- Antioxidants for hepatocyte necrosis
- Prednisolone or cyclosporine for inflammation
- Symptomatic treatment for cirrhosis
