1.16.23
Publication Date: 2023-01-13
History
10 year old male castrated retriever. Vomiting, cough, lethargy, difficulty swallowing
4 images
Findings
Left lateral, right lateral, and ventrodorsal thoracic are available for review.
There is a patchy alveolar pattern in the ventral aspects of the lungs bilaterally. The pulmonary pattern is predominantly noted the right cranial and caudal subsegment of the left cranial lung lobes, with less severe involvement of the right middle and left caudal lung lobes. There is a mild bronchointerstitial pattern in the dorsal lung fields, which is attributed to most likely age-associated pulmonary changes.
The thoracic esophagus is moderately, uniformly distended with gas in both lateral views. The cardiac silhouette and caudal vena cava are small in all views.
The diaphragmatic margin is normal. No abnormalities are detected in the pleural space.
There is mild multifocal spondylosis deformans.
Diagnosis
- Bilaterally ventrally distributed alveolar pattern is most consistent with aspiration pneumonia.
- Diffuse esophageal distension may be due to megaesophagus, secondary to underlying disease (such as myasthesnia gravis, GOLPP (geriatric onset laryngeal paralysis polyneuropathy) or hypothyroidism).
- Small size of the cardiovascular structures suggests hypovolemia / dehydration.
Discussion
The owner elected not pursue any further testing to determine the underlying the cause.
Notes
The case was initially seen by Dr. Debow on clinics.
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