Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cat coughing for weeks found to have diaphragmatic hernia mimicking
By White, J D et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2003·University Veterinary Centre Sydney, Australia·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Diaphragmatic hernia in a cat mimicking a pulmonary mass.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 7-year-old British shorthair cross cat was brought in for coughing that had lasted five weeks. X-rays showed a soft tissue mass in the chest, which led to surgery where a diaphragmatic hernia (a tear in the diaphragm allowing organs to move into the chest) was found and a part of the liver was removed. After the surgery, the cat was treated with antibiotics for ten days, and the coughing stopped completely. It turned out that the hernia might not have been the main cause of the cough, which was likely due to inflammatory airway disease.
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Abstract
A seven-year-old castrated British shorthair cross cat was presented for coughing of five-weeks duration. Thoracic radiographs and an unguided bronchoalveolar lavage showed changes consistent with inflammatory airway disease. In addition, a soft tissue density was evident in the thoracic films between the heart and the diaphragm. Exploratory thoracotomy demonstrated a diaphragmatic hernia, probably congenital in origin, with incarceration of a portion of the hepatic parenchyma. The herniated portion of liver was resected surgically and the defect in the diaphragm closed. The cat was given a 10-day course of doxycycline post-operatively and the cough did not recur subsequently. In retrospect, the hernia was potentially an incidental problem, the cat's coughing being attributable to inflammatory airway disease.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12765631/