Patrícia Mendes Pereira

Aortic body tumors in dogs from Northern Paraná, Brazil

This article describes the occurrence of aortic body tumors in four dogs from Southern Brazil. All dogs were males, more than 9 year of age; most of these were from the Boxer breed of dogs. The animals had large neoplastic growths at the base of the heart, which demonstrated histologic characteristics consistent with that of aortic body tumor. By immunohistochemistry, tissue sections from all dogs reacted positively to neuron specific enolase. These cases might represent the first description of this tumor in dogs from Brazil, as confirmed by immunohistochemistry.

Tratamento de insuficiência cardíaca com benazepril em cães com cardiomiopatia dilatada e endocardiose

Clinical effects of benazepril, a long acting angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACEi), in dogs with naturally-occurring congestive heart failure (CHF) caused by mitral endocardiosis or dilated cardiomyopathy were studied. The drug was given orally at a dose of 0.25 to 0.5mg/kg/day. Diuretics, digitalics, and antiarrhtyhmic drugs were given as needed. Physical, radiographic, and eletrocardiographic examination were performed at days 0, 7, 28, and 56. Serum biochemistry and arterial blood gases were obtained at days 0 and 56. Signs of dyspnea and general condition improved in all dogs. Cough decreased in frequency. The electrocardiogram did not change with benazepril use except for a decrease in P wave amplitude and duration. No adverse effects related to the use of benazepril were observed. Benazepril is an effective and well tolerated ACEi for the treatment of CHF in dogs.

Monitoração e avaliação clínica da eficácia da transfusão de sangue total e concentrado de hemácias em cães

Transfusion therapy has a great potential to save lives in small animals practice, and it has been used mainly in the emergency treatment for anemic animals, although this procedure is related to certain risks. A manner to minimize these risks is through keeping close monitoring during the time of transfusion, which furthermore allows an evaluation of recovering of the patient. The aim of the present research was to evaluate the efficacy of whole blood and packed red cells transfusions in anemic dogs. Seventy-seven transfusions in dogs have been done, 52 of whole blood and 25 of packed red cells, measuring (every 15-30 minutes) temperature, cardiac and breathing frequency, mucous tissue color and capillaries filling time throughout the procedure. The outcome shows that both compounds, may cause improvements to every assessed parameters 45 minutes from the start of the transfusion mainly to cardiac frequency, mucous tissue color and capillaries filling time (p<0.05). The success of a transfusion ensures apparent clinical improvement from two hours of the onset of the procedure.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Primary Erythrocytosis in a Dog: A Case Report.

Primary erythrocytosis, or polycythemia vera, is a myeloproliferative disease caused by the exaggerated increase of erythroid precursor cells in the bone marrow. We report the case of an 11-year-old male mixed-breed dog that had tachypnea and spastic tetraplegia. There was a significant increase in hematocrit. After phlebotomy and fluid therapy, the dogs condition improved. A diagnosis of primary erythrocytosis was supported by serum levels of erythropoietin. The dog responded well to treatment with administration of hydroxyurea (15 mg/kg), phlebotomies, and fluid therapy. However, after 18 months, he had an acute recurrence of clinical signs and was euthanized. We observed that long-term maintenance with hydroxyurea at a dosage of 15 mg/kg every 48 hours was adequate for managing polycythemia vera, with a survival time of 18 months in the present case. However, longer dose intervals are likely not appropriate. We believe that this may be helpful to other veterinarians facing the same problems in the treatment of polycythemia vera.

Contagem de reticulócitos de cães saudáveis ou anêmicos pela citometria de fluxo

ABSTRACT Counts of reticulocytes using both the light microscopy and flow cytometry (FC) methods in 25 healthy control dogs, 60 dogs with regenerative anemia, and 40 dogs with non-regenerative anemia were compared. The absolute counts were submitted to the paired t-Student test, which determined significant differences (P<0.0001) between those methods in the three studied groups. Counts of retyculocytes were higher under flow cytometry, which proved to be a more sensitive method. Flow cytometry is a simple and reliable method for the quantification of reticulocytes. Keywords: dog, flow cytometry, anemia, reticulocyte INTRODUCAO Reticulocitos sao eritrocitos imaturos que contem reticulos com cadeias de RNA, mitocondrias, ribossomos, centriolos e restos do complexo de Golgi (Cowgill et al., 2003). Apos cerca de dois dias na medula ossea, os reticulocitos sao normalmente liberados no sangue periferico para a maturacao final (Riley et al., 2001). A contagem de reticulocitos no sangue periferico informa sobre a atividade da medula ossea e a efetiva producao de eritrocitos (Nobes e Carter, 1990; Cowgill et al., 2003). Uma contagem de

Osteocondrite dissecante da cabeça do úmero em cäes: estudo retrospectivo de 36 casos (1991-1996)

Osteocondritis dissecans of the numeral head (OCD) is a pathological condition of the articular cartilage, resulting from disturbance of the endochondral ossification. Thirty-six cases of OCD were analyzed in dogs with ages between 5 and 24 months, with larger representation among males when compared to females (3.5:1). Most of these (80.6%) had received nutritional suplementation. Eight dogs were treated conservatively through rest and dietary restriction, while the others were submitted to surgical intervention by means of arthrotomy and removal of the articular flap of the humeral head. It was concluded that the predisposition of some races, associated to the unbalanced nutritional diet during the first months of life, are the main causes of OCD, and that the surgery is the best therapy to be used.