Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with spinal epidural empyema and heart infection case report
By Woodruff, Matthew et al.·Published in The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne·2019·Adelaide Animal Emergency and Referral Centre (AAERC), Australia·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Concurrent spinal epidural empyema and endocarditis in a dog.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 9-year-old neutered male Rhodesian ridgeback cross was brought in because he was having trouble walking, had a fever, and showed signs of infection. After tests including CT scans and echocardiograms, the vet diagnosed him with spinal epidural empyema (a collection of pus in the spinal area) and infectious endocarditis (an infection of the heart valve). This case is unique as it links the two serious conditions. The dog received both medical and surgical treatment, which helped address his symptoms and improve his condition.
People also search for: dog trouble walking · Rhodesian ridgeback fever · spinal epidural empyema treatment · dog heart infection symptoms
Abstract
A 9-year-old neutered male Rhodesian ridgeback cross dog was evaluated for progressive non-ambulatory paraparesis, fever, and leukocytosis. The dog was diagnosed with spinal epidural empyema (SEE) and infectious endocarditis (IE) of the mitral valve based on the findings of contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT), CT myelography, echocardiography, and bacterial culture. The report herein describes the clinical presentation, CT findings, clinical and surgical management of this case, together with the electrocardiography, and echocardiography findings. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case of spinal epidural empyema likely to be caused by infectious endocarditis of the mitral valve in a dog.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31692670/