Premium
Eisenmenger's complex in a Holstein‐Friesian cow
Author(s) -
GAVAGHAN BJ,
KITTLESON MD,
DECOCK HEV
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
australian veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1751-0813
pISSN - 0005-0423
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-0813.2001.tb10638.x
Subject(s) - medicine , ventricle , cardiology , right ventricular hypertrophy
A 4.5‐year‐old, Holstein‐Friesian cow presented with a 1‐month history of severe exercise intolerance. Rectal examination and transrectal ultrasonography revealed a large mass in the left retroperitoneum. The heart rate was 70 to 80/min. Premature ventricular complexes and ventricular bigeminy were present on an electrocardiogram. Erythrocytosis was present and blood gas analysis revealed marked hypoxaemia. An echocardiogram demonstrated a large ventricular septal defect, a partially dextroposed aorta, and concentric hypertrophy of the right ventricular free wall. Colour flow Doppler echocardiography and a contrast echocardiographic study demonstrated a right‐to‐left shunt through the ventricular septal defect. Eisenmenger's complex was diagnosed. The patient was euthanased. Necropsy confirmed the gross cardiac lesions indentified by echocardiography and an abscess in the apex of the left ventricle. Severe pulmonary arterial lesions were present, consistent with a marked increased in pulmonary vascular resistance. Actinomyces pyogenes was cultured from abscesses of the retroperi‐toneum and the ventricular apex.