Abstract:Objectives To report the use of computed tomography (CT) in conjunction with clinical signs to assess severity of pectus excavatum (PE) in kittens and to guide surgical decision making. To report medium term outcome in a prospective cohort of kittens undergoing surgical correction. MethodsProspective study of ten, 10-15 week old kittens diagnosed with moderate/severe pectus excavatum Results CT provides additional information useful for selecting patients for surgical correction and for planning that surgery. Traditional radiographic indices (vertebral, frontosagittal) provide reasonable approximations of the CT determined dimensions but these seem to correlate poorly with the severity of clinical signs. Kittens commonly have lateralised deformities which are associated with less severe clinical symptoms, whilst those with midline deformities are associated with more severe clinical signs. 6/7 kittens with severe PE which had a ventral splint applied for 4 weeks had excellent medium term outcomes. Clinical SignificanceRestriction of diastolic filling by midline sternal deviation may be an important cause of exercise intolerance in cats with pectus excavatum. CT can be used to assess affected kittens and to plan surgery when indicated.http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jfms Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery tendencies have been demonstrated, it may well be a phenotypic response to a variety 56 of underlying conditions and its aetiology is incompletely understood. 7 The incidence of 57 PE in kittens is unknown although the defect seems to be more commonly seen in 58Bengal cats than domestic short hair (DSH) cats which is suggestive of there being a 59 familial component to its expression. 8 The presence of PE is also positively correlated 60 with flat-chested kitten syndrome in Burmese cats. 9 61 62In cats, the severity of the deformity is traditionally graded using the vertebral (VI) and 63 frontosagittal (FSI) indices as measured from orthogonal view thoracic radiographs 64 (table 1). 1 In man, however, computed tomography (CT) is commonly employed to 65 assess both the severity of the deformity and to assist with preoperative surgical 66 planning. 5,10 67 68The authors had noted an apparent discrepancy between the severity of clinical 69 symptoms and radiographically determined vertebral and frontosagittal indices. This 70 The sternebrae closest to the overlying major cardiovascular structures were 5-7 (4 197 kittens), 5-8 (2 kittens), 6-8 (2 kittens), 6-7 (2 kittens), 4-6 (1 kittens) (see figure 3). 198The dorsal aspect of the sternal deformity was judged to be in contact with a major 199 cardiovascular structure in 9/10 cases. suggests that radiographically determined VI should be relatively constant independent 252 of the respiratory phase at which they were taken. 253 254There was reasonable correlation between radiographically determined and CT-255 determined VI and FSI, CT consistently gave a lower value for the VI with a mean 256 difference of 0.53 and FSI calculated from CT images tended...

Anal sacculectomy is a safe procedure with a relatively high rate of short-term but self-limiting, minor, postoperative complications. Smaller (<15 kg) dogs are more likely to experience postoperative complications but the risk of permanent faecal incontinence is low.

An eight-month-old female English springer spaniel was presented with weight loss and severe haematochezia. Upper and lower endoscopy identified small intestinal inflammatory bowel disease and a vascular malformation within the descending colon. The colonic lesion was excised at coeliotomy and identified histopathologically as a colonic vascular ectasia. All clinical signs resolved following surgery and continued dietary management. To the authors' knowledge this is only the second published report of CVE in a juvenile dog and the first to survive to long term follow up.

Clinical records made during routine vaccinations were compared between populations of domestic shorthair cats and Bengal kittens. An increased incidence (12/244) of thoracic wall deformity was detected amongst the Bengal kittens. Deformities detected were: pectus excavatum (five), unilateral thoracic wall concavity (six) and scoliosis (one). Five-generation pedigrees were analysed for the affected kittens that showed a high degree of common ancestry indicating the likelihood of a familial cause.

Objective: To report complications and long-term outcomes after submucosal resections of benign and malignant epithelial rectal masses. Study design: Retrospective multicentric study. Sample population: Medical records of 93 dogs at 7 referral hospitals.Methods: Records were reviewed for surgical time, diagnosis, margins, complications, and recurrences. Survival of dogs was evaluated based on tumor types, categorized as benign, carcinoma in situ, and carcinoma. The Kaplan-Meier survival curve and Cox proportional hazards analysis were used to determine the association of a range of variables with recurrence and survival time. Results: Duration of follow up was 708 days (range, 25-4383). Twenty-seven dogs (29%) developed complications. Recurrence was identified in 20/93 (21%), with 12/20 recurrent masses treated with repeat submucosal resection. Median survival was not reached in any group. The 1-,2-, 5-year survival rates for carcinomas were 95%, 89%, and 73% respectively. However, overall survival was longer for benign tumors than carcinomas (P = .001). Recurrence was more likely when complications (P = .032) or incomplete margins (P = .023) were present. Recurrence was associated with an increased risk of death (P = .046). Conclusion: Submucosal resection of both benign and malignant rectal masses was associated with a low rate of severe complications and prolonged survival in the 93 dogs described here.Clinical significance: Submucosal resection is a suitable technique for resection of selected rectal masses.