CT findings, management and short-term outcome of dogs with pyothorax: 101 cases (2010 - 2019).

OBJECTIVES: To describe diagnosis, CT findings, management and short-term outcome of a large population of canine pyothorax cases. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 101 canine pyothorax cases at two UK referral centres. Medical records and CT images were reviewed. Dogs were included if pre- and post-contrast CT was performed within 48 hours of presentation. RESULTS: CT abnormalities included pleural thickening (84.1%), pannus (67.3%), pneumothorax (61.4%), mediastinal effusion (28.7%), pulmonary (13.8%) and mediastinal (7.9%) abscessation, foreign body presence (7.9%), foreign body tracts (6.9%) and pneumonia (6.9%). Seventy-one percent of dogs were managed surgically, of which 90.2% survived, and 29% were managed medically, of which 72.4% survived. Overall mortality was 14.8% and 86.6% of these dogs died within 48 hours of admission. All dogs with evidence of a foreign body on CT underwent surgery. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Mortality in our population was low and most dogs that died did so within 48 hours of hospitalisation, regardless of management type.

Detrusor urethral dyssynergy in dogs: 35 cases (2007-2019).

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate clinical presentation, diagnosis, treatment and outcome of dogs diagnosed with detrusor urethral dyssynergy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Multicentre (n = 3 UK referral clinics), retrospective, observational study. Database searches were performed (2007 to 2019) to identify dogs with detrusor urethral dyssynergy. Dogs with structural abnormalities or detectable neurological disorders affecting micturition were excluded. Clinical presentation, diagnostic procedures, treatment and outcome were evaluated. RESULTS: Thirty-five dogs were included. Middle-aged, large-breed, male neutered dogs were most frequently documented. Four female dogs were included. Fifteen breeds, including Labrador retrievers (8/35; 22.9%), golden retrievers (5/35;14.3%) and cross-breeds (5/35; 14.3%) were identified. Median duration of clinical signs was 152 days (range 0 to 1095). All dogs were dysuric at presentation with 17/35 (48.6%) reported to have an altered stream of urine and 17/35 (48.6%) to be stranguric. Follow-up data were available for 34 dogs (median 136 days, range 4 to 2188). Response was classified as good (20/34; 58.8%), partial (7/34; 20.5%) or poor (7/34; 20.5%). Overall time to response was known for 21 of 34 dogs (partial n = 6, good n = 15) with a median of 11 days (range 1 to 155). Four dogs had surgical intervention (castration n = 4, cystostomy tube n = 2). Three dogs were euthanased due to partial (n = 1) or poor (n = 2) response. Medications were discontinued in 11 of 20 (55.0%) dogs with a good response to therapy, two of these relapsed. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Detrusor urethral dyssynergy is an uncommon micturition disorder in dogs, in particular females. Medical therapy with or without surgery resulted in a favourable prognosis in the majority of dogs, although many require long-term medication.

Oncological outcomes in oncoplastic breast surgery: a single institution analysis.

Oncoplastic surgery is a well-acknowledged technique that combines conserving treatment in breast cancer with plastic surgery reconstruction. The aim of our analysis is to evaluate the safety of this surgical procedure in the setting of invasive primary breast cancer, and then compare breast oncoplastic surgery with the Veronesi quadrantectomy.We have analyzed 1541 patients who underwent breast surgery for primary breast tumor between October 2004 and May 2018 at Sant'Andrea University Hospital in Rome: 880 women experienced the breast oncoplastic approach, while 660 patients received conservative surgery alone. The median follow-up time was 14 years with a completeness of 70% (1067 pts vs 1554). The statistic comparison across these subpopulations suggested that there are no statistically significant results in term of Overall Survival, Disease Related Survival, Local recurrence or positive margins. Therefore oncoplastic surgery for primary invasive breast cancer represents a feasible procedure and an oncological safe surgical option.

Adenomyoepithelioma of the breast: case report and literature review.

Adenomyoepithelioma are uncommon tumors. The majority of them occur in women in the fifth and sixth decades who usually present with a self-palpated, solitary breast mass or a lesion identified on mammography. We report the case of adenomyoepithelioma of the breast with malignant transformation of both myoepitheliel and epithelial components diagnosed as malignancy during the preoperative stage in a seventy-six year old woman.

Incomplete Urethral Duplication Associated with a Dermoid Cyst in a Dog with Urinary Obstruction.

A 20-month-old male miniature dachshund was evaluated for a 10-week history of intermittent stranguria, pollakiuria, haematuria and obstructive urolithiasis. Retrograde urethrocystography revealed a subcutaneous saccular structure in the perineal area connected to the intrapelvic urethra associated with urolithiasis. After excision of the perineal saccular structure, microscopical examination confirmed the presence of transitional epithelium lining the diverticulum, with isolated submucosal smooth muscle bundles. This structure was attached to another saccular structure lined by stratified squamous keratinizing epithelium with hair follicles, sebaceous glands and apocrine glands. An incomplete urethral duplication with dermoid cyst was diagnosed. The dog recovered uneventfully from surgery and was still urinary continent and free from clinical signs 5 months after surgery. To the authors' knowledge this is the first report of an incomplete urethral duplication with a dermoid cyst and concurrent obstructive urolithiasis in a dog.

Cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy as a cause of acute kidney injury in dogs in the UK.

To describe the signalment, clinicopathological findings and outcome in dogs presenting with acute kidney injury (AKI) and skin lesions between November 2012 and March 2014, in whom cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy (CRGV) was suspected and renal thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) was histopathologically confirmed. The medical records of dogs with skin lesions and AKI, with histopathologically confirmed renal TMA, were retrospectively reviewed. Thirty dogs from across the UK were identified with clinicopathological findings compatible with CRGV. These findings included the following: skin lesions, predominantly affecting the distal extremities; AKI; and variably, anaemia, thrombocytopaenia and hyperbilirubinaemia. Known causes of AKI were excluded. The major renal histopathological finding was TMA. All thirty dogs died or were euthanised. Shiga toxin was not identified in the kidneys of affected dogs. Escherichia coli genes encoding shiga toxin were not identified in faeces from affected dogs. CRGV has previously been reported in greyhounds in the USA, a greyhound in the UK, without renal involvement, and a Great Dane in Germany. This is the first report of a series of non-greyhound dogs with CRGV and AKI in the UK. CRGV is a disease of unknown aetiology carrying a poor prognosis when azotaemia develops.

Evaluation of red blood cell distribution width in cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

BACKGROUND: Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a measurement of variability in circulating erythrocytes size, and has recently been shown to correlate with prognosis in a variety of human diseases, including acute and chronic heart failure. OBJECTIVES: To determine if RDW differs between healthy controls, cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) without congestive heart failure (CHF) and cats with HCM and CHF, and to evaluate whether RDW values at presentation can provide useful prognostic information in cats with HCM. ANIMALS: Retrospective single-centre study. Seventy-three cats diagnosed with HCM by echocardiography and 30 healthy controls presented to a veterinary teaching hospital between October 2006 and April 2013 were included. Physical examination, haematology and echocardiographic data obtained on one single visit were retrospectively reviewed and compared between three groups: controls, cats with HCM without CHF, and cats with HCM and CHF. Outcome data were obtained from clinical records or referring veterinarians. Univariable and multivariable survival analyses were performed. RESULTS: Red blood cell distribution width was significantly greater in cats with HCM and CHF compared with cats with HCM without CHF, and the controls. It was also significantly associated with cardiac mortality in univariable survival analysis, and this association remained significant in multivariable survival analysis after controlling for the effect of CHF, left atrial size, left ventricular systolic function, haematocrit and pro-thrombotic state. CONCLUSIONS: A higher RDW may be seen in cats with CHF and is an independent predictor of cardiac death in cats with HCM without concurrent non-cardiac-related illness.

[Diaphragmatic eventration in the adult: repair with Gore-Tex surgical mesh]. / L'eventratio diaframmatica nell'adulto: riparazione con mesh in Gore-Tex.

The Authors report the case of a fifty-nine-year-old patient, affected by complete eventration of the left diaphragm and cranial stomach dislocation with axial volvulus, associated with an upward movement of part of the left colon and some jejunal loops. The subclinical condition had been occasionally discovered during a routine chest X-ray at the age of eighteen and the patient remained without symptoms up to five years ago, when he began to show significant digestive and cardiorespiratory symptoms. The patient has been successfully treated via thoracotomy with phrenic alloplastic using Gore-Tex patch and has obtained an immediate remission of the symptoms. Left diaphragmatic eventration of the adult is a rare pathology, either congenital or acquired, with few and definite surgical indications such as severe digestive and cardiorespiratory symptoms. Different surgical techniques including the use of patches are herein illustrated.

[Rare peritoneal tumors in the aged. Apropos of a case of Castleman's syndrome]. / Nell'ambito dei tumori rari retroperitoneali in età geriatrica. A proposito di un caso di sindrome di Castleman.

An unusual case is reported of the rare Castleman's disease localized in the retroperitoneal area in an elderly asymptomatic patient. A similar benign lymphoadenopathy of unknown etiology is generally found in the mediastinum and interests just one lymph-node that results abnormally hyperplastic. Histologically, most cases are of the hyaline-vascular type and much more rarely of the plasmacell variant. After a careful review of the literature the anatomical, pathological and clinical characteristics, the main etiopathogenetics hypotheses and diagnostic criteria are explained. The particular size of the neoformation is emphasized and also the impossibility to reach a correct preoperatory diagnosis owing to a suspect kidney parenchyma infiltration observed by RM. Also the intraoperatory report seemed to confirm the diagnostic hypothesis of a malign neoplasm infiltrating the lower pole of the kidney and which necessitated the total ablation of the retroperitoneal mass and left kidney. We concluded that the case which we have observed (the 32nd in world literature dealing with the retroperitoneal space) is not really comparable to those previously described by other authors. In fact the histopathological picture presents a series of ialino-vascular and plasmacell aspects which make any hypothesis of etiopathogenetic uncertain.

[Surgical treatment of primary carcinoma of the female breast in geriatric age. Retrospective studies of 190 cases]. / Il trattamento chirurgico del carcinoma primitivo della mammella femminile in età geriatrica. Studio retrospettivo di 190 casi.

On the basis of a review of 190 cases of breast cancer in elderly patients, the Authors discuss clinical and anatomopathological features for a proper surgical strategy. After an accurate evaluation of the operative risk and stage of the neoplastic disease, conservative surgical techniques or as less demolitive as possible, i.e. quadrantectomy with axillary lymphadenectomy, Madden or Patey's modified mastectomies, with respect for oncological radicality, are recommended in the elderly. The importance of an early diagnosis in reducing the frequency of locally advanced neoplasms (typical in the elderly) which if operable require Halsted's procedure, is furthermore emphasized.