Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Gallbladder agenesis in a dog diagnosed by CT scan
By D. Kelly et al.·Published in The Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association·2019·View original on Semantic Scholar →
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Original publication title: Gallbladder Agenesis in a Dog: Clinicopathological, Histopathology, and Computed Tomography Findings.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 5-year-old female mixed-breed dog was brought to the vet after showing symptoms like vomiting, retching, and not wanting to eat. Tests revealed that she had gallbladder agenesis, a rare condition where the gallbladder is absent, leading to liver issues. The vet used a CT scan to diagnose her without needing surgery, which is a new approach for dogs. Treatment focused on managing her liver health, and with proper care, she started to feel better.
People also search for: dog vomiting and not eating · gallbladder problems in dogs · CT scan for dog liver issues
Abstract
Three cases of gallbladder agenesis (GA) have been previously reported in the English-speaking veterinary literature. Affected dogs can be either asymptomatic or symptomatic with vomiting, retching, and anorexia previously reported. The previously reported cases and the dog in this report had marked elevations in alanine aminotransferase concentrations, and liver histopathology consistently showed bridging fibrosis and biliary hyperplasia. The condition is most often diagnosed in humans during exploratory surgery, which was also the case in the previous three dogs reported with GA. Computed tomography (CT) or MRI is now recommended for diagnosis of the condition in humans, and this is the first report of CT findings in an affected dog diagnosed without surgery. Bile stasis and cholangiohepatits have been proposed as secondary pathologies in both humans and dogs with GA, and histopathology and CT findings in this case support those theories.
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Search related cases →Original publication on Semantic Scholar: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/31525090