Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Percutaneous transcatheter closure of an aorto-cardiac fistula in a six-year-old Warmblood mare with atrial fibrillation.
- Journal:
- Journal of veterinary cardiology : the official journal of the European Society of Veterinary Cardiology
- Year:
- 2019
- Authors:
- Vernemmen, I et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Large Animal Internal Medicine
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
This report talks about a six-year-old French Warmblood mare that had a serious heart issue called an aorto-cardiac fistula, which is an abnormal connection between the aorta and the heart. She was showing signs of atrial fibrillation (an irregular heartbeat), decreased performance, swelling in her belly, and strong pulses in her arteries. The mare underwent a procedure to close the fistula while she was under general anesthesia, and initially, it seemed to work well as her heart failure symptoms improved right away. Unfortunately, six days later, the device used to close the fistula came loose, and her health quickly worsened. A second attempt to fix the issue while she was standing did not succeed, and sadly, the mare was euthanized.
Abstract
This report describes a rare case of an aorto-cardiac fistula in a six-year-old French Warmblood mare presented with atrial fibrillation, decreased performance, ventral oedema, bounding arterial pulsation and pathological jugular venous pulse. A 2.7-cm-diameter fistula connected the right aortic sinus of Valsalva to the right atrium. Atrial fibrillation was likely due to volume overload of the right heart due to left-to-right shunting. The horse was treated by percutaneous transcatheter closure of the fistula delivered under general anaesthesia using a transarterial approach. The operation was initially successful, and clinical signs of congestive heart failure improved immediately. However, the device dislodged six days after procedure, and the general condition of the horse deteriorated quickly. A second closure attempt to deliver the occluder using a transvenous approach in the standing horse failed, and the horse was eventually euthanized. Procedural aspects and several possible risk factors for device dislodgement are discussed.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31405558/