Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Common atrioventricular canal in a newborn foal--case report and review of the literature.
- Journal:
- Acta veterinaria Hungarica
- Year:
- 2007
- Authors:
- Kutasi, Orsolya et al.
- Affiliation:
- Large Animal Clinic
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
This case report discusses a rare heart defect found in a newborn horse, known as a common atrioventricular canal, which is a type of problem with the heart's structure that occurs during development. The diagnosis was made using advanced imaging techniques, including echocardiography, and was confirmed after the foal passed away through a detailed examination of the heart. The researchers also conducted various tests to understand how this defect affected the foal's health. They believe that this type of heart defect may be more common in horses than previously recognized, suggesting that some other heart issues in horses might actually be related to this condition. Unfortunately, the treatment did not work, as the foal did not survive.
Abstract
This paper presents the embryological and pathological features as well as the terminology and classification of common atrioventricular canal, a type of endocardial cushion defect. The authors give a complete description of an extremely rare congenital cardiac malformation in an equine neonate. The diagnosis of a complete, balanced common atrioventricular canal of type C in Rastelli's classification scheme was based on two-dimensional, contrast and colour Doppler echocardiography and subsequent postmortem gross pathology. To support our diagnosis and study the pathophysiological effect of the alteration, physical examination, blood gas analysis and other laboratory tests, electrocardiography and thoracic radiography were also performed. Our search of the literature suggests that this type of developmental anomaly might account for a higher percentage of equine congenital cardiac defects than was thought earlier. We suppose that some previously described congenital heart abnormalities were misinterpreted: these anomalies could have actually represented some type of atrioventricular canal defect, resulting from the failure of the endocardial cushions to undergo complete and proper fusion.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17385556/