Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with lung abscess and foreign body treated by thoracoscopic
By Peláez, M Jiménez & Jolliffe, CĀ·Published in The Journal of small animal practiceĀ·2012Ā·Soft Tissue Surgery UnitĀ·View original on PubMed ā
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Original publication title: Thoracoscopic foreign body removal and right middle lung lobectomy to treat pyothorax in a dog.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 3-year-old female German wirehaired pointer was brought to the vet because she was coughing, had a fever, and seemed very tired. X-rays showed fluid in her chest and a problem in her right lung. The vet diagnosed her with pyothorax (a type of infection in the chest) caused by a grass awn (a type of plant material) that had gotten stuck in her lung. They used a minimally invasive procedure to remove the foreign body and part of the lung. She recovered well and went home 48 hours later, with no signs of illness during follow-up visits over three years.
People also search for: dog coughing and lethargy Ā· pyothorax treatment in dogs Ā· grass awn lung infection in dogs
Abstract
A three-year-old, 30-kg, spayed female German wirehaired pointer was presented for coughing, pyrexia and lethargy. Thoracic radiographs showed mild right-sided pleural effusion, moderate pneumothorax and a pulmonary lesion in the right middle or caudal lung lobe. A diagnosis of pyothorax was established by fine needle aspiration of the pleural effusion. Thoracoscopic exploration was performed using one-lung ventilation. A vegetal foreign body (grass awn) and an abscess were observed in the distal part of the right middle lung lobe. The foreign body was removed and a right middle lung lobectomy was performed, both thoracoscopically. No complications were noted. The dog was discharged 48 hours after surgery, and no recurrence of the clinical signs was observed during the follow-up time period (three years and three months). Thoracoscopy is a minimally invasive alternative to thoracotomy to explore and successfully treat some non-chronic pyothoraces in dogs, including lesions affecting the right middle lung lobe.
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Search related cases āOriginal publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22329679/