Toxic encephalopathy associated with low dose metronidazole therapy in a cat suffering from gastrointestinal lymphoma: A case report

This case report describes an episode of acute encephalopathy in a cat treated with metronidazole due to chronic gastrointestinal disease (giardiasis). Metronidazole had been administered at a dose of 28 mg/ kg/day for 7 days. Cat showed signs of head pressing, reduced consciousness, ataxia, seizures, lack of menace response and progressive weakness. Complete blood cell count revealed haemolytic anaemia, serum biochemistry, coagulation profile, blood pressure measurement, urinalysis, were unremarkable. Metronidazole administration was immediately discontinued; supportive care consisted of fluid therapy, blood transfusion was also performed. The neurological status of the patient improved rapidly within 72 h. Anaemia improved in next 7 days, however transfusion and steroid treatment was necessary. Two weeks post intoxication abdominal ultrasound revealed abnormal hepatic pattern, enlarged mesenteric lymph nodes and lack of normal intestinal layering. A biopsy had been taken during explorative laparotomy and histopathologic examination revealed gastrointestinal and hepatic lymphoma. The aim of this case report is to present that cats suffering from multiple conditions may show metronidazole intoxication even when recommended dosage  and treatment length is used. We cannot exclude that metronidazole was responsible for autoimmune haemolytic anaemia

Epidemiological and pathological features of primary cardiac tumours in dogs from Poland in 1970–2014

Primary heart tumours affect less than 1% of dogs. Due to their rare incidence, every research showing the frequency of cardiac tumours is valuable. Routine diagnostics is often complemented with immunohistochemical analysis. This study was conducted on 110 patient records from all veterinary faculties in Poland from dogs diagnosed with heart tumours between 1970 and 2014. The dogs’ age, breed and sex with tumour localisation and histopathological diagnosis were analysed. Because of its most common incidence, samples of haemangiosarcoma underwent further examination with assessment of the expression of cell markers that have not been evaluated earlier (i.e. minichromosome maintenance proteins and beta-catenin). We noted 111 tumours including 88.3% malignant and 10.8% benign ones. Haemangiosarcoma and aortic body tumour were the most frequent cardiac neoplasms in the dogs examined (45.9% and 27.9% of all tumours, respectively). Immunohistochemical analysis of haemangiosarcoma showed a positive expression of all markers examined. CD31, vimentin, and beta-catenin showed a positive reaction in all 11 samples examined. At least one proliferative marker (Ki-67, MCM-3 or MCM-7) showed a positive reaction in each sample. MCM-3 showed a higher expression than the two other proliferative markers (P = 0.006), but only Ki-67 showed a positive correlation with the mitotic index (P > 0.05, r = 0.89). Although beta-catenin, MCM-3 and MCM-7 showed a positive reaction in the haemangiosarcomas examined, their usefulness as diagnostic and prognostic factors should be a topic of further research

Impact of High Temperature on Post-Exercise Albuminuria in Dogs

The literature suggests that strenuous exercise and exposure to high temperatures may cause physiologic proteinuria, but to our knowledge there have been no studies that have assessed the effect of high temperatures on the occurrence of post-exercise albuminuria in dogs. The goal of the study was to assess the impact of high temperatures on the occurrence of albuminuria. Thirteen healthy adult dogs—eight female (62%) and five male (38%) had to run 5 km at a temperature of 25 °C in grasslands which took about 30–40 min. Dogs underwent clinical examinations: echocardiography, abdominal ultrasound, blood hematology and biochemistry and urinalysis, including the ratio of albumin to creatinine (UAC). Baseline UAC was on the borderline of statistical significance for female dogs, but not for male dogs, before and after exercise. UAC was 0.31 ± 0.56 mg/mmol for female dogs and 0.36 ± 0.60 mg/mmol in male dogs before exercise. Immediately after exercise, UAC was 0.51 ± 0.58 mg/mmol in female dogs and 0.31 ± 0.40 mg/mmol in male dogs. Thus, a period of about 30–40 min of intensive exercise at high temperatures (25 °C) did not lead to increased albuminuria. This suggests that there is no need to limit the movement activity before urine tests in dogs, even at high temperatures, before urinalysis

The Possible Influence of Vitamin D Levels on the Development of Atrial Fibrillation—An Update

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a severe and most common supraventricular arrhythmia in humans, which, if left untreated or treated ineffectively, can lead to ischemic stroke or heart failure. It has been suggested that serum vitamin D (VitD) deficiency may be one of the critical factors influencing the onset of AF, especially in the period after cardiac surgery, such as coronary artery bypass grafting. Several papers have indicated that VitD supplementation reduces the risk of AF, significantly reducing the proportion of patients between the control and study groups in both the pre- and postoperative periods. Factors that increase the risk of AF from VitD deficiency are also further indicated, and these are age, gender, weight, season or comorbidities. In addition, the cardiodepressive mechanism of VitD is not fully understood; however, it is suggested that it acts through at least two pathways. The first indicates a direct effect of VitD on atrial muscle degradation, while the second is related to the modulation of cardiovascular depression factors. Despite many reports showing correlations between no VitD concentrations on the development of AF, this topic is still widely debated and the results from these papers are still subject to doubt. Therefore, this review aims at describing in detail the problem of correlation between VitD deficiency and the development of AF associated mainly with the postoperative period, i.e., after cardiac surgery, especially pathogenesis, and results of this correlation, taking into account recent studies, limitations and future perspectives. Due to the fact that this is still a topical problem, we believe that the collection of the latest reports and a detailed description of the problem is most appropriate in this case

Intracardiac electrophysiological conduction parameters in adult dogs

Background: Invasive electrophysiology study (EPS) is one of the most important adjunct tests for the evaluation of arrhythmias in human medicine. However, EPS is neither well known nor widely used in veterinary medicine. Objective: To define the values for intracardiac conduction parameters determined during invasive EPS in dogs. Animals and methods: The study included 16 admitted dogs of various breeds, sex and ages and 6 control Beagles. In the Beagles, EPS was performed twice at 6-month intervals in order to verify the reproducibility of the results. Results: No significant differences were found between the results of the baseline and repeated EPS performed in the Beagles. We found retrograde conduction in 13 (59%) out of 22 dogs and including 4 (31%) animals with concomitant ‘jumps’ in the atrioventricular node conduction curve, pointing to the presence of dual conduction in this node. The mean values of the AV and retrograde VA Wenckebach points equaled to 220 and 360 ms, respectively, suggesting that the capability of the descending route is higher than that of the ascending route. Conclusion: The values determined in this study may be helpful in early detection of abnormalities in the electrical conduction system of the heart

Prevalence of arrhythmias in dogs examined between 2008 and 2014

Introduction: The prevalence of arrhythmias in dogs and the influence of sex, breed, age, and body weight were analysed over a seven-year span

Stents in Veterinary Medicine

Stenting in veterinary medicine has been a rapidly growing method of interventional surgery for several years. This procedure is usually performed in the respiratory and urinary tracts, but there are cases of stenting of blood vessels or gastrointestinal structures. It is based on maintaining the permeability of a given tubular structure, thus allowing the passage of gas or liquid. This procedure is often performed as a first-line treatment in situations where pharmacological agents do not work and as an alternative method, often cheaper than the classically performed ones. There are also cases where stenting is used as a palliative treatment, e.g., to enable defecation in colonic obstruction due to tumour infiltration of the colon wall. Stenting is often a life-saving or comfort-improving procedure for animals, but one should also be aware of possible postoperative complications and be prepared for any adversity. For this reason, this review provides an insight into the current knowledge in veterinary medicine about stenting and the consequences associated with this procedure