Common arterial trunk in a cat: a high-resolution morphological analysis with micro-computed tomography

Concurrent Persistent Truncus Arteriosus and Left Atrial Diverticulum in a Domestic Short-Haired Cat

A 2-year-3-month-old neutered male domestic shorthair cat was presented for cardiological evaluation at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, with a history of dyspnea, open-mouth breathing, cyanosis, and exercise intolerance. Physical examination identified a grade 4/6 systolic murmur, cyanosis, and mild dyspnea, with no abdominal abnormalities. Echocardiography revealed right ventricular hypertrophy, severe right atrial dilation, a thickened tricuspid valve, and a large nonrestrictive ventricular septal defect with a left-to-right shunt, consistent with persistent truncus arteriosus (PTA), confirmed postmortem. During necropsy, in addition to the clinically confirmed diagnoses, bilateral myxomatous degeneration of the A-V valves, and associated anomalies such as an atrial diverticulum and splenopancreatic fusion were observed and confirmed histologically. This case emphasizes the clinical and morphological complexity of congenital heart defects in felines, highlighting the importance of advanced diagnostic and histopathological techniques for accurate diagnosis and characterization.

Complex congenital heart and lung defects as a cause of hydrops fetalis in French bulldogs -micro-CT with contrast study

Limited data are available on the causes of hydrops fetalis in dogs. Congenital heart defects may be an important contributing factor. Standard autopsy often fails to provide a comprehensive and accurate diagnosis on very small hearts. This study was carried out on five French bulldog puppies all presenting with advanced hydrops fetalis and four diagnosed with pulmonary hypoplasia at autopsy. The body weight of the dogs ranged from 142 to 687 g and the heart with lungs weighed from 4.5 to 23.6 g. The hearts and pulmonary vessels were filled with barium contrast, and micro-CT scans of the physiologically connected heart and lungs were performed. In all five puppies, we confirmed congenital heart defects including: Puppy #1. Perimembranous ventricular septal defect and aortic dextroposition; Puppy #2. Interrupted aortic arch with aortic valve dysplasia and aortic stenosis; Puppy #3. Tricuspid valve dysplasia and bicuspid pulmonary trunk valve; Puppy #4. Aortic stenosis and ventricular septal defect; Puppy #5. Tricuspid valve dysplasia. Additionally, four puppies had pulmonary vascular hypoplasia. Contrast-enhanced micro-CT can provide highly accurate diagnosis of complex congenital heart and lung defects. Examination of the heart in conjunction with the lungs appears to be a rational approach in animals with hydrops fetalis.

Persistent truncus arteriosus with an anomalous coronary artery in a cat

A 6-month-old, female, domestic shorthair cat weighing 1.8 kg presented with cardiomegaly seen on radiographs taken at a primary care veterinary center. Echocardiography revealed a single enlarged vessel overriding a ventricular septal defect and severe hypertrophy of the right ventricular free wall. There was no evidence of a pulmonary arterial trunk originating from the heart. The blood flow through the ventricular septal defect exhibited right-to-left shunting. The cat suddenly experienced dyspnea and died at home, and a postmortem examination was performed. A single large vessel was noted leaving the heart, from which the right and left pulmonary arteries arose separately; a main pulmonary artery was absent. There was only one single anomalous coronary ostium that arose from the brachiocephalic artery and divided into two branches. The walls of the extracardiac coronary artery were thick, but neither infarcts nor narrowing was observed within the coronary arteries. There were no abnormalities in the intracardiac coronary artery. These findings revealed a persistent truncus arteriosus with an anomalous coronary artery. A combination of these anomalies might have contributed to the early death of the cat.