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Background: Duodenal ulceration (DU) in dogs derives from different causes but has never previously been related to gallbladder agenesis (GA). GA is a rare congenital disorder in dogs and is considered a predisposing factor for DU in humans.Case Description: A 5-month-old intact female Maltese was presented for acute vomiting and diarrhea. Abdominal ultrasound suggested duodenal perforation and absence of the gallbladder. Exploratory laparotomy was performed to treat the perforation and confirmed GA. Hepatic ductal plate malformation (DPM) was histologically diagnosed in liver biopsy, but no signs of liver dysfunction were detected by blood work at first admission. Two months later, the dog developed signs of portal hypertension and medical treatment was started. However, the clinical condition gradually worsened until liver failure and the dog was euthanized 8 months after surgery. Necropsy confirmed hepatic abnormalities.Conclusion: This report describes a case of DU associated with GA and DPM in a dog. As in humans, GA may represent a hepatobiliary disease predisposing to gastroduodenal ulcerations.

Complicazioni della chirurgia ortopedica nel gatto politraumatizzato Del Magno S, Foglia A, Cola V, Pinna S, Valentini S, Giunti M, Pisoni L. Scopo del lavoro Il presente lavoro mira a valutare la frequenza e il tipo di complicazioni in seguito a chirurgie ortopediche in corso di politrauma nel gatto. Materiali e metodi Gatti politraumatizzati in cui è stata eseguita almeno una chirurgia ortopedica dal 2012 al 2016 sono stati inclusi e classificati in base a sede e tipo di lesione, tipo di trattamento chirurgico e medico e tipo di complicazioni riscontrate. Ai pazienti è stato attribuito uno score clinico, come precedentemente riportato (Vnuk et al, 2004). L’analisi statistica delle variabili oggetto di studio è stata condotta mediante l’utilizzo di test per dati non parametrici. La significatività dei test è stata considerata per un valore di p< 0,05. Risultati Sono stati inclusi 42 gatti europei, 19 femmine e 23 maschi. L’età mediana era di 24 mesi (range 7 mesi-18 anni), il peso mediano era di 4 kg (range 2,2-6,6). I traumi ortopedici localizzati allo scheletro appendicolare sono risultati i più frequenti (62%), seguiti dai traumi del bacino (33%), del distretto maxillo-facciale (29%) e della colonna vertebrale (12%). In 31 gatti erano presenti lesioni in altre sedi anatomiche con un coinvolgimento significativamente più frequente dei distretti toracico e cranico. Il valore mediano dello score attribuito alle lesioni traumatiche riportate è risultato essere pari a 6 (range 2-12). Tale punteggio è risultato essere positivamente correlato al numero di distretti interessati dal trauma. Nel 57% dei casi era presente uno stato di shock all’ammissione, che è risultato essere significativamente più frequente nei soggetti con lesioni traumatiche localizzate a più di due distretti corporei. Nel periodo post-operatorio le complicazioni verificatesi più frequentemente sono state: anemia grave (17%, 7/42 pazienti), parziale fallimento dell’intervento (12%, 5/42), peggioramento dei deficit neurologici secondari ad osteosintesi del bacino (7%, 3/42) e infezioni del sito operatorio (14%, 6/42). Le infezioni erano associate a batteri multiresistenti (5/6), necrosi tissutale estesa (3/6) ed esposizione degli impianti di osteosintesi (2/6). L’anemia si è sviluppata più frequentemente nei gatti che presentavano infezioni nel periodo post operatorio. Una terapia antibatterica empirica è stata somministrata in tutti i pazienti come monoterapia (30/42 casi) o terapia combinata (12/42) a discrezione del medico curante. Lo sviluppo delle infezioni nel periodo post-operatorio è risultato significativamente più frequente in soggetti trattati con terapia combinata. Il tempo intercorso tra l’ammissione e il primo intervento chirurgico (mediana 1 giorno, 0-4) e/o il primo intervento ortopedico (mediana 2 giorni, 0-11) non sono risultati correlati all’insorgenza di complicazioni. Un solo paziente con trauma facciale e trauma cranico è deceduto nel periodo post-operatorio. La durata del ricovero (mediana 10 giorni) è risultato significativamente maggiore in caso d’infezione post-operatoria. Discussione Un paziente politraumatizzato risulta essere spesso un paziente critico e al momento non sono presenti linee guida sul tipo di approccio chirurgico e il tempo in cui intervenire (Peterson et al, 2015). L’anemia è una complicazione frequente nel periodo post-operatorio, di solito di natura multifattoriale. La risposta infiammatoria sistemica secondaria alla presenza di infezione sembra contribuire ad aggravare lo stato di anemia nel periodo post-operatorio in questa popolazione. L’infezione del sito chirurgico è una complicazione grave e rappresenta una spesa notevole per il proprietario vista la maggior durata dell’ospedalizzazione. La maggior incidenza di infezioni in pazienti trattati con una combinazione di antibatterici suggerirebbe di impostare un’iniziale monoterapia, solo se necessaria, da variare sulla base dell’esame colturale. L’esecuzione di esami batteriologici su potenziali siti d’infezione al momento dell’ammissione del paziente ed eventualmente la loro ripetizione durante il decorso è di fondamentale importanza per impostare una terapia antibatterica mirata e prevenire o ridurre lo sviluppo di antibioticoresistenza. Questa strategia terapeutica andrebbe associata ad un ottimale controllo dell’infezione, che includa la rimozione del tessuto necrotico dal sito di lesione. Il fallimento seppure parziale dell’intervento riscontrato in alcuni pazienti è probabilmente ascrivibile ad una gestione non adeguata del paziente in sede chirurgica e/o post-operatoria. L’aggravamento delle lesioni neurologiche secondarie ad osteosintesi del bacino risulta spesso temporanee (Meeson, 2015). Nei 3 casi del presente studio interessati da tali alterazioni, si è assistito ad un significativo miglioramento clinico al momento della dimissione. Vnuk D et al, Feline high-rise syndrome: 119 cases (1998-2001). J Feline Med and Surg, 6:305-312, 2004 Peterson NW et al, The impact of surgical timing and intervention on outcome in traumatized dogs and cats. J Vet Emerg Crit Care, 25:63-75. Meeson RL, Geddes AT, Management and long-term outcome of pelvic fractures: a retrospective study of 43 cats. J Feline Med Surg, Oct 7, pii:1098612X15606958 2015.

Thoracostomy tubes are routinely applied for air and fluid removal from the pleural space in cats. Recently, small-bore wire guided chest drains, inserted with a modified Seldinger technique, were proposed for management of pleural space disease in cats (1,2). The aim of this retrospective study is to evaluate the performance of a small-bore (14 Ga, 2 mm) wire guided chest drain (MILA® International Inc.; SBCD) compared to a (12 Fr, 4 mm) traditional trocar-type chest drain (Redax® S.p.a., TTCD) for the management of pleural effusion secondary to pyothorax in cats. Cats with a documented pleural septic effusion, treated at least initially with a thoracostomy drain, between June 2008 and March 2017 were included. Two groups were created according to the type of drain applied: traditional TTCD inserted in the thorax with pressure and a SBCD inserted with a Seldinger technique. Clinical data relative to the application of the drain including complications, length of time in use, need of analgesia, surgical exploration and outcome were recorded.Twenty-one cats with a confirmed diagnosis of pyothorax were included in the study: SBCD was positioned in 8 cats and TTCD in the remaining 13 cats. Bilateral pleural septic effusion was prevalent in both groups. In the TTCD group, general anesthesia was required for the procedure and the chest drains were positioned bilaterally in 9/13 cases (69%). The application of the SBCD necessitated a mild sedation and was monolateral in 8/9 cats (89%). Post-operative analgesia was significantly different between the two groups with a more frequent requirement of rescue therapy with methadone in the TTCD one (p=0.02). No significant differences in the frequency of complications (pneumothorax, malpositioning) were reported during application, however an episode of cardiac arrest occurred in TTCD group. Obstruciotn occurred in both groups during the use of toracostomy tubes. The number of cats who underwent surgery was not statistically different between the two groups. No deaths were reported in the SBCD group, while 6/13 cats (46%) died in the TTCD group (p

Wound management is a fundamental task in standard clinical practice. Automated solutions already exist for humans, but there is a lack of applications regarding wound management for pets. Precise and efficient wound assessment is helpful to improve diagnosis and to increase the effectiveness of treatment plans for chronic wounds. In this work, we introduced a novel pipeline for the segmentation of pet wound images. Starting from a model pre-trained on human-based wound images, we applied a combination of transfer learning (TL) and active semi-supervised learning (ASSL) to automatically label a large dataset. Additionally, we provided a guideline for future applications of TL+ASSL training strategy on image datasets. We compared the effectiveness of the proposed training strategy, monitoring the performance of an EfficientNet-b3 U-Net model against the lighter solution provided by a MobileNet-v2 U-Net model. We obtained 80% of correctly segmented images after five rounds of ASSL training. The EfficientNet-b3 U-Net model significantly outperformed the MobileNet-v2 one. We proved that the number of available samples is a key factor for the correct usage of ASSL training. The proposed approach is a viable solution to reduce the time required for the generation of a segmentation dataset.

The aim of this study was to describe the anatomic locations and treatments available for deeply located vegetal foreign bodies in cats. Ten cases of migrating vegetal foreign bodies (vFBs) requiring surgical removal are reported. The diagnoses of vFBs in the thoracic cavity (4/10), retroperitoneal space (2/10), and paratracheal region (1/10) were obtained by ultrasound examination; however, in the perineum or penile urethra (2/10) and peritoneum (1/10), the vFBs were found during surgery. Intraoperative ultrasound guidance helped remove vFBs from the retroperitoneal space and paratracheal tissues. Clinical signs resolved in 8 out of 10 cases, 1 out of 10 cases had recurrent draining fistula, and 1 out of 10 was euthanized for ethical reasons. The intrathoracic was the most common location in the present study, followed by retroperitoneal space and urethra/perineum. Ultrasound guidance was essential for the diagnosis and/or treatment of vFBs located in the thoracic, retroperitoneal, and cervical regions.

This study evaluated the association between a selection of candidate predictor variables, including the elevation of specific pancreatic enzymes, and outcome in dogs with gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV). Twenty-two dogs with gastric dilatation-volvulus were included, being classified as survivors or non-survivors based on the final outcome. Dogs with intestinal obstruction (n = 16) were selected for comparison. Blood samples were collected upon admission (T0) and after 24 hours (T1). Serum lipase activity, canine pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity (cPLI) and other variables (plasma lactate concentration and C- reactive protein -CRP- in particular) were evaluated as predictive variables. T0 cPLI and serum lipase activity were not found to differ significantly between dogs with gastric dilatation-volvulus or intestinal obstruction. Canine pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity values above 400 μg/L were detected in 6/22 dogs with gastric dilatation-volvulus and 4/ 16 with intestinal obstruction. However, lactate concentration was significantly higher and CRP significantly lower in GDV as compared to IO dogs, and in the GDV group, lipase, cPLI and CRP measured upon admission were significantly associated with a negative outcome. No differences in lipase activity and canine pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity values were detected between T0 and T1. Presurgical cPLI and lipase activity were frequently increased during gastric dilatation-volvulus and were suggestive of the presence of pancreatic damage; while more extensive studies are required, based on this pilot analysis, cPLI has the potential to be a useful predictive variable for outcome in GDV. Further to this, serum CRP was able to predict outcome in this population of dogs with GDV, while blood lactate was not.