ABSTRACT
The heart of a 6-week old Arabian filly with a history of poor health and exercise intolerance revealed at postmortem examination, multiple cardiac malformations which included atresia of the right atrioventricular orifice (tricuspid atresia, with associated atrial and ventricular septal defects), complete transposition of the great arteries, anomalous drainage of the venae cavae and coronary sinus into the left atrium, coarctation of the aorta, and a small but patent ductus arteriosus. The course of blood through the heart was suggested and discussed.
Subject(s)
Heart Defects, Congenital/veterinary , Horse Diseases/congenital , Animals , Female , Heart Defects, Congenital/pathology , Horse Diseases/pathology , Horses , Transposition of Great Vessels/pathology , Transposition of Great Vessels/veterinaryABSTRACT
On the basis of clinical and laboratory examinations, a ventricular septal defect or a variant of the tetralogy of Fallot was suspected in a 3-year-old filly with a history of poor growth rate and exercise intolerance. The filly was euthanatized and found to have a 3-chambered heart (cor triloculare biatriatum). The heart had 2 normally formed atria and a large common ventricle into which the right and left atrioventricular orifices opened and from which the aorta arose. There was a small separate chamber from which the pulmonary trunk originated. This chamber communicated with the common ventricle through a large oval opening along the dorsal border of the displaced, interventricular septum.
Subject(s)
Heart Ventricles/abnormalities , Horse Diseases/diagnosis , Animals , Cardiac Catheterization/veterinary , Female , Heart Auscultation/veterinary , Horse Diseases/physiopathology , Horses , Models, CardiovascularABSTRACT
Three Arabian males foals were presented with cyanosis, heart murmur, and exercise intolerance, Results of clinical evaluation suggested a tentative diagnosis of ventricular septal defect in conjunction with malformations of the great arteries. Each foal had a poor prognosis and was killed at the owners' requests. At necropsy, the malformed hearts of the three foals were virtually identical. Each heart had a large defect in the upper interventricular septum. The aorta originated from the hypertrophied right ventricle and partially overrode the ventricular septal defect. The aortic ostium was guarded by three semilunar valvules. The position of the valvules and the ostia of the coronary arteries was abnormal. The pulmonary arteries arose from the persistent ductus arteriosus. The pulmonary trunk was reduced to a thin, fibrous cord extending from a short and narrow persistent ductus arteriosus to the level of the semilunar valve, where it fused with the wall of the aorta. No communication of the atretic pulmonary trunk with the cavity of the right ventricle was seen.
