Surgical repair of a complete endocardial cushion defect in a dog.

OBJECTIVE: To describe surgical repair of a complete endocardial cushion defect (ECD) in a dog. STUDY DESIGN: Clinical report. ANIMAL: A 5-month-old, 9.2 kg male Shetland sheepdog. METHODS: Echocardiographic examination revealed an ostium primum atrial septal defect (ASD), an inlet ventricular septal defect (VSD), mitral regurgitation (MR) and tricuspid regurgitation (TR), and a complete ECD was diagnosed. Surgical correction was performed using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) via right atriotomy. A polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) patch was secured along the margin of the inlet VSD using simple continuous suture, then the cleft in the septal mitral leaflet was sutured. Similarly, the cleft in the septal tricuspid leaflets was sutured. To complete inlet VSD closure, the VSD patch was secured to these sutured leaflets by simple continuous suture. Another PTFE patch was used to close the ostium primum ASD. RESULT: After surgery, MR, TR, and interventricular shunting were decreased. The dog was alive 6 years and 5 months after the surgery with no evidence of an interventricular shunt, TR, or other clinical signs. CONCLUSIONS: Complete ECD in a dog was corrected using a 2-patch technique under CPB.

Complete atrioventricular canal in a dog.

This report details a case of complete, type A atrioventricular (AV) canal, also called complete endocardial cushion defect, in a young dog. Complete AV canal is classified as three types: A, B or C depending on the degree of linkage between common AV valve and ventricular chambers. Despite the defect this dog, which did not undergo surgical treatment, remains in ISACHC class Ib 19 months after the initial diagnosis.

Common atrioventricular canal in a newborn foal--case report and review of the literature.

This paper presents the embryological and pathological features as well as the terminology and classification of common atrioventricular canal, a type of endocardial cushion defect. The authors give a complete description of an extremely rare congenital cardiac malformation in an equine neonate. The diagnosis of a complete, balanced common atrioventricular canal of type C in Rastelli's classification scheme was based on two-dimensional, contrast and colour Doppler echocardiography and subsequent postmortem gross pathology. To support our diagnosis and study the pathophysiological effect of the alteration, physical examination, blood gas analysis and other laboratory tests, electrocardiography and thoracic radiography were also performed. Our search of the literature suggests that this type of developmental anomaly might account for a higher percentage of equine congenital cardiac defects than was thought earlier. We suppose that some previously described congenital heart abnormalities were misinterpreted: these anomalies could have actually represented some type of atrioventricular canal defect, resulting from the failure of the endocardial cushions to undergo complete and proper fusion.

Solitary coronary ostium in the aorta in Syrian hamsters. A morphological study of 130 cases.

BACKGROUND: Solitary coronary ostium in the aorta (SCOA) is a rare anomaly, the pathogenesis of which remains uncertain. The lack of an animal model is one of the reasons why little understanding of this question has been gained. The aim was to examine the coronary distribution patterns associated with SCOA in laboratory inbred Syrian hamsters. METHODS: The study concerns 130 cases detected in a database consisting of 1,202 internal casts of the heart, great arterial trunks, and coronary arteries. RESULTS: In 21 (16.2%) cases, the solitary ostium was located in the left aortic sinus. In a further 58 (44.6%) cases, it was in the right aortic sinus. In the remaining 51 (39.2%) cases, the ostium was in the right side of the ventral aortic sinus of a bicuspid aortic valve. The distribution patterns were classified according to the location of the solitary ostium and the presence, or absence, and course of the main coronary arterial vessels. Overall, 14 categories were established, 10 of which had their counterpart in man. CONCLUSIONS: The findings reported substantiate the use of the present inbred Syrian hamsters for further studying the morphogenesis of the SCOA. The results of a statistical analysis indicate that when a sole coronary ostium becomes established in the aortic root, the development of the resultant anomalous coronary arterial tree tends to happen through preferential pathways. In addition, they indicate that the branching mode of the coronary tree and the condition of the aortic valve are independent traits.

Congenital heart disease.

The clinical usefulness of M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiography has been proven over the years. M-mode echocardiography allows an 'ice-pick' sampling of the heart, but in conjunction with two-dimensional echocardiography, assessments of cardiac structure and, to some extent, myocardial function can be appreciated. The limitations of these techniques include difficulty in 1) diagnosing subtle congenital heart disease and 2) estimating the severity of valvular lesions (stenosis and regurgitation). Doppler echocardiography overcomes these limitations by detecting abnormal direction, velocity, and turbulence of the blood flow (Chapter 2). This chapter will focus mainly on the two-dimensional and M-mode echocardiographic features of common congenital heart disease.