Cor pulmonale in a horse with granulomatous pneumonia

Overview of Equine Cardiac Disease

Equine heart diseases can be categorized with morphologic, etiologic, and physiologic diagnoses and classified anatomically as diseases of the pericardium, myocardium, valves (endocardium), and great vessels. An appreciation of normal and pathologic physiology is a key to understanding diagnosis and therapy of heart disease. Pathophysiologic diagnoses include arrhythmias, congestive heart failure, and pulmonary hypertension. Heart rhythm disturbances can occur in isolation or with structural disease. Heart failure stems from arterial filling owing to insufficient cardiac output. Pulmonary hypertension is associated with strenuous exercise, left heart failure, bronchopulmonary diseases, and pulmonary arteriopathies. The etiopathogenesis of these disorders are incompletely understood.

Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and clinically reversible cor pulmonale in a horse with complicated recurrent airway obstruction

Cor pulmonale is considered an uncommon complication in horses with recurrent airway obstruction (RAO). This case report describes the history, clinical and further examination findings, treatment, progression and outcome of a horse diagnosed with cor pulmonale and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation of 2 days duration due to a severe exacerbation of RAO. To our best knowledge, this is the first report of RAO induced pulmonary hypertension in a horse causing atrial fibrillation. However, even severe cardiac changes due to respiratory dysfunction seem to be largely reversible in horses.

Cardiovascular ultrasonography in cattle

Assessment of the bovine cardiovascular system is challenging because the position of the heart, deep in the thorax, may interfere with clinical findings. With advances in bovine ultrasonography, normal and abnormal findings of the bovine cardiovascular system have been described. Cardiovascular ultrasound can be of valuable help as a noninvasive diagnostic tool, especially when clinical findings are inconclusive. This article presents an up-to-date review of echocardiography and vascular ultrasound in the diagnosis and prognosis of the most common cardiovascular diseases in cattle.