Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Lung blood flow scans in dogs hospitalized with babesiosis
By Sweers, L et al.·Published in Journal of the South African Veterinary Association·2008·Department of Companion Animal Clinical Studies·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: The scintigraphic evaluation of the pulmonary perfusion pattern of dogs hospitalised with babesiosis.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 14 dogs with babesiosis, a serious infection caused by parasites, were evaluated for breathing problems like sudden shortness of breath and rapid breathing. Researchers compared these dogs to a control group of healthy Beagles to see if they had any signs of pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE), a condition where blood clots block blood flow in the lungs. After thorough testing, including imaging, none of the infected dogs showed signs of PTE. This suggests that while breathing issues can occur with babesiosis, they may not be due to blood clots in the lungs.
People also search for: dog breathing problems babesiosis · what causes sudden dyspnea in dogs · pulmonary thromboembolism in dogs
Abstract
The possibility of coagulopathy in Babesia canis rossi infections in the canine patient has been suggested in the literature, but minimal work has been done to evaluate the clinicopathological nature of it in further detail. Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) has not yet been implicated in canine babesiosis (CB), but may also be one of the causes of the sudden dyspnoea and tachypnoea that are frequently seen in complicated CB patients. The objective of this study was to prospectively evaluate the scintigraphic pulmonary perfusion pattern in hospitalised dogs with babesiosis in an attempt to ascertain whether a scintigraphic pattern consistent with clinically relevant PTE does indeed occur in these patients. The study consisted of a normal control group of 9 mature healthy Beagle dogs (group 1) and a Babesia group with 14 dogs of a variety of breeds that were naturally infected with Babesia (group 2). Pulmonary perfusion scintigraphy was performed after making thoracic radiographs and performing a blood gas analysis in both groups. The scintigraphic images were visually inspected for changes suggestive of PTE, but not a single dog in group 2 had pleural-based, wedge-shaped perfusion defects which would have resulted in a high probability for clinically relevant PTE. The scintigraphic pulmonary perfusion pattern demonstrated was not significantly different between the 2 groups (P = 1.00).
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18846852/