Placement of an intraluminal stent with self-expanding nitinol stents was a successful palliative treatment for tracheal collapse in dogs that did not respond to medical management. Disease progression is inevitable, but substantial improvement in respiratory function may be achieved for a period of months to years.

Use of a nitinol stent (Vet Stent-Trachea®) in dogs with end-stage tracheal collapse is associated with a fair to good outcome despite significant temporal stent fore shortening after bronchoscopic placement.

A prospective study to assess changes in selected plasma biochemistry and electrolyte values, plasma insulin and aldosterone concentrations, and electrocardiography (ECG) was performed on eight female captive tigers (Panthera tigris) and three lions (Panthera leo) undergoing general anesthesia for elective laparoscopic ovariectomy. Each animal was sedated with medetomidine (18-25 microg/kg) and midazolam (0.06-0.1 mg/kg) intramuscularly, and anesthesia was induced with ketamine (1.9-3.5 mg/kg) intramuscularly and maintained with isoflurane. Venous blood samples were collected and analyzed for plasma biochemistry parameters and insulin and aldosterone concentrations. An ECG was recorded at the time of each blood sample collection. Mean plasma potassium, glucose, phosphorus, and aldosterone concentrations increased during anesthesia (P < or = 0.05). One tiger developed hyperkalemia (6.5 mmol/L) 2.5 hr after anesthetic induction. Plasma insulin concentrations were initially below the low end of the domestic cat reference interval (72-583 pmol/L), but mean insulin concentration increased (P < or = 0.05) over time compared with the baseline values. Three tigers and two lions had ECG changes that were representative of myocardial hypoxemia. Based on these results, continuous monitoring of clinical and biochemical alterations during general anesthesia in large nondomestic felids is warranted, and consideration should be given to reversal of medetomidine in these animals should significant changes in electrolytes or ECG occur.

TSPS provides information about shunt number and location, which allows improved surgical planning. Because it requires significantly less radionuclide, TSPS improves safety, allows for more comprehensive patient care, and earlier surgical intervention.

We describe the scintigraphic patterns observed in 14 patients with confirmed multiple portosystemic shunts imaged via transplenic portal scintigraphy. Parameters evaluated included presence of multiple anomalous vessels, presence of hepatofugal flow caudal to spleen, and/or to cranial margin of the kidneys, slow absorption resulting in longer spleen to heart transit time, and presence of biphasic or fragmented bolus. Twenty-eight additional patients, 14 with a confirmed single portocaval and 14 with a portoazygos shunt, were used for comparison. Nine of 14 (64.3%) patients with multiple shunts had multiple vessels, five (35.7%) had a biphasic bolus, 13 (92.9%) had hepatofugal flow caudal to the cranial margin of the kidneys. In all single portocaval shunts, a single anomalous vessel was identified. None had hepatofugal flow caudal to the border of the kidneys. Among portoazygos shunts, 4/14 (28.6%) had flow caudal to the injection site. Six portoazygos and one portocaval shunts had biphasic bolus. Median transit time from spleen to heart was significantly longer (1.9 s) in patients with multiple shunts than in patients with a portocaval shunt (1.0 s), but not in patients with a portoazygos shunt (1.3 s). Although a distinct plexus of anomalous vessels is not detected in all patients with multiple shunts imaged using transplenic portal scintigraphy, findings of hepatofugal flow caudal to the margin of the kidneys, and longer transit time compared with single portocaval shunts were characteristic. Flow caudal to the splenic injection site but cranial to the kidneys and biphasic bolus can also be seen with a single congenital shunt.