The use of lung biopsy to determine early lung pathology and its association with health and production outcomes in feedlot steers.

The objectives of this study were to determine if percutaneous lung biopsy can be used to characterize early pathologic changes in bovine lung associated with bovine respiratory disease (BRD), to determine if specific infectious respiratory pathogens can be identified in association with these changes, and to determine whether pulmonary pathology at arrival and at the time of initial diagnosis are associated with health and production outcomes. One hundred auction-market derived crossbred steer calves from a commercial feedlot in southern Alberta were included in this study. A percutaneous lung biopsy technique was used to obtain lung samples from the right middle lung. Steers were sampled 295 times yielding 283 samples with 210 (74%) containing lung tissue. Overall, histopathological changes were observed in 20 (9.5%) of lung biopsy samples. There were too few samples with pathology to reveal an association between lung pathology and subsequent health events. In general, percutaneous lung biopsy can be done safely on feedlot steers in a commercial feedlot setting with few clinical side effects. This technique did not prove useful as a diagnostic tool or prognostic indicator for early BRD. However, it may be useful for the diagnosis of BRD in targeted populations of commercial feedlot steers.

Les objectifs de la présente étude étaient de déterminer si une biopsie pulmonaire obtenue par voie transcutanée pouvait être utilisée afin de caractériser dans les poumons bovins les changements pathologiques hâtifs associés aux maladies respiratoires bovines (MRB), de déterminer si des agents infectieux pathogènes spécifiques au système respiratoire peuvent être identifiés en association avec ces changements, et de déterminer si les pathologies pulmonaires à l'arrivée et au moment du diagnostic initial sont associées avec les résultats de production et de santé. Cent bouvillons de race croisée issus d'encans et élevés dans un parc d'engraissement commercial du sud de l'Alberta ont été inclus dans cette étude. Une technique de biopsie pulmonaire transcutanée a été utilisée pour obtenir des échantillons de poumon du lobe pulmonaire médial droit. Les bouvillons ont été échantillonnés 295 fois produisant 283 échantillons avec 210 (74 %) contenant du tissu pulmonaire. Des changements histopathologiques ont été observés dans 20 (9,5 %) des échantillons de biopsie pulmonaire. Il y avait trop peu d'échantillons avec des pathologies pour démontrer une association entre une pathologie pulmonaire et des conséquences subséquentes sur la santé. En général, la biopsie pulmonaire transcutanée peut être faite de manière sécuritaire sur des bouvillons d'embouche en parc d'engraissement commercial avec peu d'effets cliniques secondaires. Cette technique ne s'est pas avérée utile comme outil diagnostique ou indicateur de pronostic pour les MRB hâtives. Toutefois, elle pourrait être utile pour le diagnostic de MRB dans des populations ciblées de bouvillons d'embouche en parc d'engraissement.(Traduit par Docteur Serge Messier).

Associations between prebreeding serum micronutrient concentrations and pregnancy outcome in beef cows.

OBJECTIVE: To determine associations between serum concentrations of copper, molybdenum, selenium, vitamin A, and vitamin E measured in beef cows at the start of the community pasture breeding season and pregnancy status at the end of the season. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. ANIMALS: 771 beef cows from 39 cow-calf herds. PROCEDURES: Serum micronutrient concentrations were measured in samples collected from cows on arrival at 5 different community pastures in Saskatchewan, Canada, in May 2008. Cows were palpated transrectally to determine pregnancy status in October 2008. Herd owners and professional herd managers were surveyed to collect individual data for cows (age, calving date, and history of exposure to bulls before the start of the breeding season) and information on herd and breeding management. Associations between animal-, herd-, and pasture-level variables and pregnancy status were examined. RESULTS: Serum concentrations of selenium, molybdenum, vitamin A, and vitamin E were not associated with pregnancy status after accounting for prebreeding body condition score, age, and calving-to-breeding interval. Serum copper concentrations were more commonly assessed as below adequate than were other micronutrients. Decreased serum copper concentrations were associated with increased odds of nonpregnancy in cows < 10 years of age. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Prebreeding micronutrient supplementation programs should be carefully managed in herds with poor reproductive performance in areas known to be copper deficient, and evaluation of serum copper concentrations from a subset of cows should be considered before the start of the breeding season.

The development of a novel percutaneous lung biopsy procedure for use on feedlot steers.

The purpose of this study was to develop a percutaneous lung biopsy technique to be used on steers in a commercial feedlot setting. Thirty-four crossbred steer and heifer calves from a commercial feedlot in southern Alberta were used in this study. The calves originated from the auction market and all were chronically affected with bovine respiratory disease (BRD). A technique was developed to obtain a lung sample from the right cranioventral lung lobe, intercostal space (ICS) 2, using a manual or an automatic biopsy instrument with a 14- or 12-gauge (ga) biopsy needle. Overall, lung parenchyma was successfully harvested in 55.9% of experimental animals and in 55.0% of lung biopsy trials. Compared with postmortem diagnosis, the biopsy resulted in the same pathologic diagnosis for 75% of biopsy samples when evaluated using standardized criteria by the same veterinary pathologist. The success rate was 61.5% and 42.9% in a hospital or field setting, respectively. With an automatic instrument, lung was recovered from 57.9% and 37.5% of samples obtained using a 12- or 14-ga biopsy needle, respectively. One experimental animal or 2.9% of the total had fatal complications from the procedure. In a commercial feedlot setting, the procedure took 20 min for each animal. Percutaneous lung biopsy of the right cranioventral lung lobe may be a viable technique when used on feedlot steers affected with chronic pneumonia. These findings suggest that using an automatic instrument with either a 14- or 12-ga biopsy needle may yield lung samples that are suitable for histopathological evaluation. However, this technique needs to be further evaluated in a field setting.