Journal of Small Animal Practice最新文献

Objectives: The clinical efficacy of the use of probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics and postbiotics (biotics) in cats is unknown, despite their use in daily practice. The objectives of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of biotic supplementation in treating and preventing gastroenteropathies, and in reducing gastrointestinal signs associated with antibiotics in cats.

Materials and methods: A systematic review was conducted by searching four databases for publications before August 2, 2024, following a pre-registered protocol. Eligible publications were trials involving healthy cats or those with gastroenteropathies, supplemented with biotics (and an inactive control), studying outcomes such as faecal consistency, faecal microbiota or vomiting. Risk of bias and quality of reports were assessed. Effects were synthesised by meta-analyses and vote counting based on direction of effect. Certainty of evidence was rated using GRADE approach.

Results: Twenty reports were included, presenting unclear or low risk of bias. The evidence did not permit a high-confidence evaluation of the effectiveness of biotics, although five of the seven probiotic trials showed beneficial effects on faecal consistency. Synbiotics presented no clinically relevant effect in reducing antibiotics-associated vomiting, with very low certainty, in a meta-analysis including 32 adult cats. Probiotics significantly reduce the Bacillota/Actinomycetota ratio, with low certainty, in a meta-analysis involving 34 healthy young-adult cats. Following vote counting, probiotics improved immune profile in young cats, and increased butyric acid concentration in healthy cats.

Clinical significance: Current data highlight the need for further research, especially focused on at-risk groups and sick cats, before advocating the use of biotic supplementation.

Objectives: The objective of the study is to describe a surgical technique of intestinal foreign body retrieval without gastrotomy using an endoscopic grasper and digital manipulation, and to compare short-term outcomes with patients who had similar obstructive intestinal foreign bodies removed via gastrotomy.

Materials and methods: Medical records of dogs and cats with intestinal foreign bodies that underwent treatment with either the orogastric retrieval technique or gastrotomy between November 2021 and July 2023 were extracted. A comparison of the short-term outcomes was performed between the techniques.

Results: Fifty cases were enrolled with all cases having material manipulated out of the obstructive location in the intestinal tract and removed either by gastrotomy or orogastric retrieval via digital manipulation of the material into an endoscopic grasper or orogastric tube. No statistical differences were appreciated in intra-operative or post-operative complication rate, time to first meal or time to discharge. The gastrotomy procedures took 11.98 minutes longer than the endoscopic retrieval group.

Clinical significance: Surgical removal of foreign bodies through a laparotomy-assisted orogastric retrieval technique is possible without the assistance of an endoscopy unit and offered no difference in complication rate or surgical outcomes.

Construct failure is a rare complication of tibial cranial closing wedge ostectomy for the management of cranial cruciate ligament disease. Construct failure can present significant challenges for reconstruction. This case report describes three dogs with construct failure which were successfully revised by the repurposing of an inverted femoral supracondylar femoral plate as part of the revision. Data were obtained from the medical records and telephone update. The use of an inverted supracondylar plate in the proximal tibia generally had good outcomes for the management of bone implant failure following cranial closing wedge ostectomy and offers a hitherto undescribed technique using a low-cost and accessible implant for repair.

Objectives: To describe thoracic and abdominal imaging findings in dogs with immune-mediated polyarthritis and to evaluate their impact on the decision to commence immunosuppressive therapy.

Materials and methods: Retrospective case series describing imaging findings in dogs with immune-mediated polyarthritis across modalities, including thoracic radiographs, abdominal ultrasound, computed tomography, and where available, echocardiography. Additionally, two internal medicine clinicians reviewed the signalment, clinical signs, clinicopathological findings and diagnostic imaging results on two separate occasions, reaching a consensus for each dog on whether immunosuppression would be their treatment of choice or whether their recommendations would be altered by the results of diagnostic imaging.

Results: Seventy-one dogs met the inclusion criteria. Abnormal diagnostic imaging findings were identified in 25.4% (18/71) of dogs. Thoracic radiography did not identify significant imaging findings in any of the dogs. Lymphadenomegaly was the most commonly reported finding on computed tomography (32/40) and abdominal ultrasound (13/34). Neoplasia was identified in three dogs (3/71). Four (4/13) dogs had echocardiography findings consistent with endocarditis. Immunosuppression without performing diagnostic imaging would have been considered in 41 of 71 (57.7%) dogs, based on the signalment, presenting signs, results of physical examination and clinicopathological testing. Of these, 10 dogs (24.3%) had diagnostic imaging findings suggestive of an underlying trigger, therefore changing the clinician's decision to proceed with immunosuppression.

Clinical significance: Abdominal imaging and echocardiography should be prioritised over thoracic radiography, in dogs with immune-mediated polyarthritis. Signalment, presenting complaint, physical examination findings and clinicopathological results are not reliable predictors of abnormal diagnostic imaging findings in dogs with immune-mediated polyarthritis.

Objectives: To evaluate the utility of 10% buffered formalin in preserving canine cerebrospinal fluid samples when analysis was delayed.

Methods: Inclusion criteria were dogs >10 kg having cerebrospinal fluid analysis performed as part of investigations at a referral hospital. Samples were submitted to an external laboratory in tubes containing Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (ETDA) as paired 0.5 mL samples; one with the addition of 0.05 mL of 10% buffered formalin and the other without. The samples were reviewed by a single pathologist who was blinded as to which sample contained formalin. Nucleated cell preservation was graded by the pathologist from 1 to 4 (1 being poor and 4 being excellent). Total protein was measured in both samples.

Results: Forty-five paired samples were included. There was no significant difference in detectability of nucleated cells between plain and formalin samples. Grade 3 was taken as the cut off for acceptable cell preservation. Based on all available samples and assessing the preservation of both nucleated cells and red blood cells, samples containing formalin were significantly more likely to be acceptably preserved. This preservation analysis was repeated on the 17 samples with at least one nucleated cell in both formalin and plain samples and was not statistically significant.

Clinical significance: The addition of formalin did not significantly improve the preservation of cerebrospinal fluid samples when analysis was delayed; however, concerns raised by previous authors regarding reduced cell preservation with addition of formalin were also not confirmed. Further large-scale studies are required to investigate the effect on nucleated cell preservation.

Diffuse pachymeningeal contrast enhancement is an uncommon imaging finding in dogs and current understanding of its aetiologies in veterinary medicine is limited. A 2-year-old female neutered Pug presented with chronic progressive vestibular signs, facial nerve paralysis, obtundation and episodic decerebellate rigidity. A magnetic resonance imaging study of the head revealed diffuse pachymeningeal thickening and contrast enhancement involving the caudal fossa and falx cerebri. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis revealed marked neutrophilic pleocytosis. Infectious disease testing was negative and a tentative diagnosis of intracranial idiopathic hypertrophic pachymeningitis was made. Immunosuppressive treatment resulted in a short period of clinical improvement. The patient subsequently suffered multiple relapses which failed to respond to alternative immunosuppressive strategies, necessitating euthanasia. Histopathological findings supported a meningeal null cell lymphoma. While rare, neoplastic causes of diffuse pachymeningeal thickening and contrast enhancement should be considered.

Objectives: To describe the detection frequency, sonoanatomy and reference values of the duodenal papillae and connected anatomical structures in cats, with reference to gross anatomical and histopathological nomenclature.

Materials and methods: A prospective, case-controlled study of sonographic examinations of the duodenal papillae in 50 client-owned cats using an ultrasound device (Logiq E9, GE Healthcare) with a 15 MHz linear transducer.

Results: The major duodenal papilla was found in 100% of cases, the minor duodenal papilla in 10%. The common bile duct and the main pancreatic duct could be traced to the duodenum in all of the cats. After an extramural part, in which the two ducts extend in a parallel fashion, they entered the duodenal wall. The subsequent intramural part was divided into three sections: the portio infundibularis, the portio submucosa and the major duodenal papilla. The 27 clinically healthy cats had a mean portio infundibularis length, width, and height in mm of 3.7, 2.5 and 2.2, respectively. These dimensions were 3.5, 2.1, 2.9 for the portio submucosa and 0.5, 2.1, 2.9 for the major duodenal papilla. Calculi in the major duodenal papilla were found in 12% of the cats. The course of the accessory pancreatic duct from the pancreas through the MIDP into the duodenum was documented.

Clinical significance: The ultrasonographic examination of the duodenal papillae is easy to perform and it can be considered part of the routine examination for feline patients presenting with relevant clinical signs, in some cases to help establish a diagnosis and plan treatment.