Hi all,
My colleague sent me a picture of this rads ( apologies for the quality, screen shots). I don’t know much about history she just saw the aorta and asked me if I wanted to scan ” out of curiosity” cause we suspect a mass causing such a direction change.
I think I can see a round opacity in the craniotomy-dorsal field.
Any tips on how to approach this scan? I will scan heart and thorax but… Would I be able to see a mass in that area with lung tissue all around?
Sorry I think this is a very silly question…:&
Hi all,
My colleague sent me a picture of this rads ( apologies for the quality, screen shots). I don’t know much about history she just saw the aorta and asked me if I wanted to scan ” out of curiosity” cause we suspect a mass causing such a direction change.
I think I can see a round opacity in the craniotomy-dorsal field.
Any tips on how to approach this scan? I will scan heart and thorax but… Would I be able to see a mass in that area with lung tissue all around?
Sorry I think this is a very silly question…:&
Thanks:)
Comments
It turns out… What seems to
It turns out… What seems to be pushing the aorta is a massive LA… I have not seen any masses…
? I see and air separation
? I see and air separation between the Ao and the heart so I dont see how the ao can be deviated by a big LA. There may be a big LA because there is some cardiomegaly but it looks like an air fille esophagus to me which would be deviating the ao. Let me see if Nele can chime in here.
We are looking at a redundant
We are looking at a redundant aorta which is an incidental age related finding in aged cats. No clinical significance. Nothing is pushing the aorta. Things just get loose with age 😉
There is air in the esophagus recognized by a tracheal stripe sign. Cant define to what extent and where it ends as to the quality of the image set.
My concern here is the obvious cachexia with tympany of the GI tract. So i would definitely do a full abdominal ultrasound to rule out structural (as opposed to functional) GI disorder here if not yet done so.
Hope this helps. Let us know 🙂
I would consider myasthenia
I would consider myasthenia as well in this cat given the megaesophagus and surely abdominal sonogram to look for badness.
yep myasthenia, dysautonomia,
yep myasthenia, dysautonomia, e’lyte imbalances such as hypokaliemia for sure all players here
Thank you all!! Well… So I
Thank you all!! Well… So I have a bit more information, not much, though.
This is Pensioner, a MN 18 year old cat presented with respiratory distress ( mouth breathing) last Friday. Apologies for lack of complete info about history. Owners are much cost concerned and do not want much done ( considering age). So just keeping cat comfy. My colleague is very much convinced that this cat is hyperthyroid. What we were most concerned about was the aorta due to the respiratory distress… But… There is no pleural effusion nor edema… There is HCM and a fairly large LA.
EL, thanks for pointing out the air bubble, however in the scan it very much looked like the La was the reason. Good to know this can just be a normal finding:) actually, I was wondering so at some point due to the tuortous Aspect of more caudal aorta. In any case, since nothing pushed the aorta… Where can the respiratory distress come from? May be a big thyroid compressing… ( there is increased inspiratory effort)… I thought the air was due to the mouth breathing… I’ll try and investigate more and if possible I’ll scan the abdomen in search of more info… Thank you all for your help. I’ll try and post the scan videos as a separate case…
( I realized I could have pal pared the thyroid myself but slipped off my mind while trying to not kill the cat by scanning… Sigh…)
Perhaps clinical signs were
Perhaps clinical signs were related to a feline thyroid storm?
Hm.., thanks Pankatz, what do
Hm.., thanks Pankatz, what do you mean?
If this patient is truly
If this patient is truly hyperthyroid then there is possibility that its clinical symptoms could be related to an actue episode of thyrotoxicosis (thyroid storm) which can cause a variety of symptoms including respiratory distress in the cat. It has been reported that even palpating the thyroid gland too agressively can bring this on as well as a variety of other inciting causes. The wasted body condition, hypertrophic heart and LAE woudl also fit. If nothing found on abdominal scan, then the gas seen in the GI tract may be from aerophagia. Just a thought.
Thank so much for that idea!
Thank so much for that idea! It makes sense. I’ll keep you posted:) I’ll be discussing this case again tomorrow and see what pieces of the puzzle I might be missing. Really appreciate the input:) I actually didn’t know about that possibility…:& thanks!!