Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Pelvic limb weakness in dogs caused by aortic and iliac blood clots
By Boswood, A et al.·Published in The Journal of small animal practice·2000·Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Aortic and iliac thrombosis in six dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
Six dogs showed signs of weakness and pain in their back legs, and some even collapsed due to blood clots blocking the arteries in their pelvis. The vets diagnosed the problem using imaging tests and found that many of these dogs had other health issues, like Cushing's disease or cancer, that likely contributed to the clots. While two dogs sadly passed away shortly after the incident, the others were treated with aspirin to help prevent future clots and were able to regain normal use of their back legs. Overall, the outlook for dogs that survived the initial episode was good, especially if they were monitored for their underlying health conditions.
People also search for: dog back leg weakness · dog blood clot treatment · Cushing's disease in dogs · dog leg pain collapse
Abstract
Six dogs had signs of pelvic limb weakness, pain and collapse as a result of occlusion of the distal aorta and/or the iliac arteries by a thrombus. Antemortem diagnosis was made on the basis of clinical signs, angiography and ultrasonography. Five dogs had concurrent disease that probably predisposed to thrombosis, including hyperadrenocorticism (three dogs), neoplasia and cardiac disease. Two dogs died shortly after the episode of thrombosis. Dogs that survived the acute episode received aspirin in an attempt to prevent thrombosis occurring again and all regained pelvic limb function. For dogs that survived longer than one month after the acute episode, repeat thrombosis was uncommon; hence the prognosis was related to the underlying disease. Aortic and iliac thrombosis in dogs is an uncommon condition that usually arises secondarily to a predisposing disease process; it carries a more favourable prognosis than feline aortic thromboembolism.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10759379/