Synonyms

Traumatic pericarditis; other pericarditis

Name of the disease in English

Traumatic pericarditis; Other pericarditis

The disease in brief

Bovine pericarditis should be schematically distinguished into 3 groups:

• pericarditis associated with inflammation of sites other than the thoracic (peritonitis, arthritis, meningitis, etc. (“polyserositis”); the course is most often hyperacute; the origin is sepsis, due to a specific and invasive bacterium ( coli, especially in newborn calves, Histophilus somni, Salmonella spp, Mannheimia haemolytica, even Chlamydia spp…);
• pericarditis associated with inflammation of the pleura (pleuro-pericarditis) (“thoracite”); the evolution is of variable duration (hyperacute to chronic); the origin is a respiratory infection by pasteurellaceae which diffuses from the lung or the pleura to the pericardium;
• isolated pericarditis; the evolution, which can be of variable duration, is however most often chronic; the origin is, almost always, an infection by contiguity, following the migration of a reticular foreign body and inoculator of often pyogenic digestive bacteria.

The most common type of bovine pericarditis is traumatic or foreign body pericarditis.

Clinic & diagnosis

The acute forms of pericarditis are very difficult to diagnose on clinical grounds, due to specific crude signs or warning signs directing towards a generalized infection or localization of the infection to other anatomical structures (pneumonia, arthritis, meningitis, etc.).

In the chronic forms of traumatic pericarditis, the warning signs indicate heart failure: bilateral distention of the jugular veins, edema of the trough, edema of the entrance to the chest, sometimes of the ventral surface of the abdomen; on auscultation, the sounds of the heart are accelerated but above all attenuated or even inaudible, or covered by liquid sounds. The general signs are weight loss, a decrease in milk production; hyperthermia is possible but rare and if present often mild; signs of pain are possible (tense head, elbows apart, complaints, etc.).

Typical sign of the disease

No description

Pictures

See below

Diagnostic formulas

No description

Differential diagnosis

-Endocarditis N16 Myocarditis N34 -Cor pulmonale-heart failure N14 – Congenital anomalies of the heart complex (or not determinable) CR12

- Empyema of the thoracic cavity

-Foreign body reticulitis

Confirm a suspicion?

Clinical suspicion can be confirmed by

• a thoraco-cardiac ultrasound,
• a pericardiotomy, which is at the same time a possible treatment,
• an autopsy.

Prognosis and treatment

In traumatic pericarditis, the prognosis is unfavorable; the likelihood of complete recovery is exceptional to rare.

Surgical treatment (pericardiotomy or pericardiostomy with drainage and detersion of the pericardial sac) associated with prolonged antibiotic treatment, with a broad spectrum and good tissue diffusion (e.g. penicillin-streptomycin), can prolong life from a few days to a few weeks and thus allow , for example, the carrying to term of a pregnancy of a calf with high genetic value.

In pericarditis other than traumatic, the prognosis is unfavorable; treatment of the primary cause is decisive.

Prevention

Preventing traumatic pericarditis merges with the prevention of foreign body reticulitis:

• systematically administer a magnet,

reduce exposure to foreign bodies in stored or grazed fodder (metal tire reinforcement, fence debris, forage harvesters, etc.).    

References

Veterinary Medicine-Pocket companion -9th Edition BLOOD DC-page 106 and 135