Case of the week 3.16.20
Publication Date: 2020-03-16
History
6 year old female spayed domestic long hair cat. Decreased cardiac and lung sounds bilaterally
2 images
Findings
Orthogonal radiographs of the whole body are available for interpretation. These were acquired for teaching purposes after having acquired collimated radiographs, as they help understanding the disease process.
The cardiac silhouette is globoid, resulting in dorsal deviation of the trachea. Superimposed over the cardiac silhouette on both projections there are numerous tubular gas filled structures of various diameters.
The caudal aspect of the cardiac silhouette is confluent with a poorly defined diaphragm on both projections.
There is a mild interstitial pattern in the visualized pulmonary parenchyma.
The serosal detail in the abdomen is within normal limits. Only the stomach, the colon and bladder are noted in the peritoneal cavity. Both kidneys are present in the retroperitoneal space.
The musculoskeletal system is within normal limits.
Diagnosis
Changes are indicative of peritoneo-pericardial diaphragmatic hernia with passage of the majority of the abodminal content in the pericardial sac.
Peritoneal-pericardial diaphragmatic hernia (PPDH) is a congenital communication remaining between the pericardial and peritoneal spaces, through the diaphragm. This is due to an embryological failure of diaphragm development - failure of closure of septum transversum or lateral pleuro-peritoneal folds.
As those are often incidental and the cat had no clinical signs associated, no treatment was performed.
Notes
Case initially seen by Dr Cline K.
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