Results suggested that CT is better than radiography for identifying the underlying causes of spontaneous pneumothorax.

Canine cutaneous and subcutaneous soft tissue sarcomas (STS) account for 20.3% of malignant neoplasms of the skin. This article makes recommendations for the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up in dogs with STS, using evidence-based medicine concepts. Although our review of the literature on the management of canine STS found many of the studies to be less than rigorous, board-certified specialists in internal medicine, surgery, pathology, oncology, and radiation oncology were able to make several recommendations based on the literature review: cytology and biopsy are important for presurgical planning; wide (>3 cm margins) surgical excision decreases the likelihood of tumor recurrence; the use of a histologic grading scale is useful in predicting biologic behavior; and, in select cases, chemotherapy and radiation therapy may be beneficial adjunct treatments to surgical excision. More research is necessary to determine minimum size of surgical margins, the impact of radiation therapy on incompletely resected tumors, the ideal chemotherapy protocol for high grade STS, and the optimal methods of monitoring dogs for tumor recurrence and metastasis.

Because revision can offer a good prognosis in early aseptic femoral loosening, yearly radiographic monitoring of the recipients is recommended.

Three dogs in which polypropylene suture material was used to close an enteric surgery site in a continuous pattern were evaluated at a later date because of recurrence of signs of intestinal disease. Surgery in each dog revealed that the suture material had been extruded into the lumen of the intestine and acted as a site for attachment of a foreign body. The nonabsorbable nature of polypropylene and its use in a continuous pattern are possible explanations for this complication. Polydioxanone or poliglecaprone 25 may be suitable alternatives to polypropylene for use in a continuous pattern for closure of small intestinal surgery sites.

The method of hydromorphone administration had no apparent effect on the likelihood of dogs vomiting. Because no dogs vomited, a particular administration method cannot be recommended. However, findings suggested that hydromorphone can be administered to dogs following orthopedic surgery without a clinically important risk of vomiting or regurgitation.