PENTALOGY OF FALLOT IN A CAPTIVE SIBERIAN TIGER (PANTHERA TIGRIS ALTAICA)

Abstract

A 2-yr-old male Siberian Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) died during a fight with a conspecific. At necropsy, significant abnormalities included severe cardiomegaly with cardiac malformations consisting of a large atrial septal defect, a membranous ventricular septal defect, overriding aorta, and stenosis of the pulmonary valve with secondary concentric hypertrophy of the right ventricle. Endocardiosis of the mitral valve was also noted. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of a pentalogy of Fallot in a large felid that resulted in sudden death.

Tetralogy of Fallot and atrial septal defect in a white Bengal Tiger cub (Panthera tigris tigris)

“…The necropsy findings were very similar to the previously described adult Siberian Tiger [ 18 ], except no endocardiosis of the mitral valve was present in this Tiger cub. The other significant difference was the presence of locally extensive pleural venous distension in the caudal thoracic peri-aortic mediastinum covering the area between the azygos vein and dorsocaudal pulmonary pleura in this cub.…”

“…Pentalogy of Fallot (POF) is a rare variant of the relatively more common TOF, comprising the aforementioned four classic features of TOF with an additional atrial septal defect (ASD) or patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). POF has previously been described in three dogs [ 12 - 14 ], two horses [ 15 , 16 ], a ram [ 17 ] and as a necropsy finding in a two-year-old Siberian Tiger [ 18 ], however, of these reports, only a Korean Sapsaree dog [ 13 ] and the Siberian Tiger [ 17 ] have been diagnosed exclusively with TOF and an ASD.…”

Clinical and postmortem findings of pentalogy of Fallot in an 18-month-old Holstein heifer

“…The prevalence of congenital heart diseases in bovine fetuses collected at abattoirs is 0.7% [15] and TOF accounts for 7.5% of these cases [12]. POF has been reported in many species, including cattle [4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 21], a ram [27], a Bengal Tiger [26], a Siberian Tiger [31], and a Korean Sapsaree dog [25], as well as in human patients [1, 2]. General symptoms of POF are similar to that of TOF, including exercise intolerance, cyanosis, tachycardia, murmur, and tachypnea [8, 9, 21].…”