Healing of multiple fractured thoracic dorsal spinous processes in a Quarter horse.

A Quarter horse gelding sustained fracture and displacement of spinous processes T2-T10. Radiographic evidence of healing was seen 3 mo following injury, and at 2 years post-injury all spinous processes had healed and undergone partial re-alignment. This re-alignment has not been reported before.

Tussive syncope in a pug with lung-lobe torsion.

The most common presenting clinical signs of lung-lobe torsion include dyspnea, tachypnea, lethargy, and anorexia. Tussive syncope secondary to lung-lobe torsion has not been documented. This article describes the presentation, diagnosis, management, and outcome of a pug with tussive syncope secondary to lung-lobe torsion.

Long-retained vaginal foreign body causing chronic vaginitis in a bulldog.

A vaginal foreign body consisting of a piece of retained calvarium from a macerated fetus was identified and removed using vaginoscopy in a 4-year-old, spayed female bulldog. The dog had a 12-month history of chronic mucopurulent vaginitis. Vaginal foreign bodies, although uncommon, are a differential diagnosis for recurrent mucopurulent or hemorrhagic chronic vaginal discharge. A case of chronic vaginitis caused by a long-retained intravaginal foreign body in a dog is described and compared to four other canine cases reported in the literature.

An assessment of the terminology used by diplomates and students to describe the character of equine mitral and aortic valve regurgitant murmurs: correlations with the physical properties of the sounds.

Twenty students and 16 diplomates listened to 7 recordings made from 7 horses with either aortic (n = 3) or mitral valve (n = 4) regurgitant murmurs. A total of 30 different terms were used to describe the character of these murmurs. However, only 4 terms were used in a repeatable and consistent manner. Most people described the character of a given mitral or aortic valve murmur with 1 or 2 terms. Diplomates drew from a pool of terms that was about half the size of that used by students--8.1 +/- 2.0 terms for diplomats (mean +/- 1 SD) versus 13.1 +/- 1.8 terms for students (P > .001). Only blowing, honking, buzzing, and musical were markedly associated with the recording played. Frequency analysis of the murmurs allowed them to be classified as containing harmonics (n = 4) or not containing harmonics (n = 3). Blowing was used to describe murmurs without harmonics on 39 of 48 occasions and corresponds to the term noisy used in some older descriptions of equine murmurs. Honking, musical, and buzzing were markedly associated with murmurs that contained harmonics; these terms were used 23, 13, and 12 of a possible 64 times, respectively. The frequency of buzzing and honking murmurs (72.7 +/- 9.3 and 88.4 +/- 46.3 Hz, respectively) was markedly lower than that of musical murmurs (156.8 +/- 81.1 Hz) (all P values < .01). Honking murmurs (0.392 +/- 0.092 seconds) were shorter than those described as buzzing or musical (0.496 +/- 0.205 and 0.504 +/- 0.116 seconds, respectively). The data suggest that the terminology for the character of aortic and mitral regurgitant murmurs should be restricted to 4 terms: blowing, honking, buzzing, and musical. Honking, buzzing, and musical describe murmurs with a peak dominant frequency and harmonics; blowing describes murmurs without a peak frequency. Effective communication could be enhanced by playing examples of reference sounds when these terms are taught so that nomenclature is used more uniformly.

Effect of hemi-circumferential periosteal transection and elevation in foals with experimentally induced angular limb deformities.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of hemi-circumferential periosteal transection and elevation (HCPTE) in foals with, experimentally induced angular limb deformities. DESIGN: Prospective study. ANIMALS: 10 healthy foals. PROCEDURE: When foals were 30 days old, transphyseal bridge implants were placed on the lateral aspects of both distal radial physes. At 90 days of age (or when 15 degrees of angulation had developed), implants were removed, and HCPTE was performed on 1 limb. Foals were confined in small pens after surgery; the front feet of the foals were rasped weekly to maintain medial-to-lateral hoof wall balance. Dorsopalmar radiographic projections of the carpi were obtained before HCPTE and 2, 4, 6, 8, and 48 weeks later. RESULTS: At the time of transphyseal bridge removal and HCPTE, both treated and control limbs were observed to have a significantly greater carpal valgus, compared with the initial degree of angulation at 30 days of age. Following HCPTE or sham surgery, all limbs straightened over the subsequent 2 months of the study. Median angulation was not significantly different between treated and control limbs at any time during the study. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Results suggest that in foals with experimentally induced limb deformities, HCPTE was no more effective than stall confinement and hoof trimming alone for correction of the deformity.

Segmental aplasia of the caudal vena cava in a dog.

Ultrasonography, angiography, magnetic resonance imaging, and exploratory laparotomy of a 2-year-old wheaten terrier with lethargy, exercise intolerance, and ascites revealed segmental aplasia of the caudal vena cava with azygos continuation, complicated by thrombus formation. Surgeries were performed on the blind-ended vessel to remove thrombi, enhancing shunting of blood through the azygos vein.