Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Progressive remission of portosystemic shunting in 23 dogs after partial closure of congenital portosystemic shunts.
- Journal:
- The Veterinary record
- Year:
- 1999
- Authors:
- Meyer, H P et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Clinical Sciences of Companion Animals · Netherlands
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
In this study, 23 dogs with a condition called congenital portosystemic shunts (where blood bypasses the liver) underwent surgery to partially or completely close the shunts using a silk tie. After the surgery, the amount of blood bypassing the liver decreased significantly, and the dogs' ammonia levels, which can indicate liver function, also dropped. Most of the dogs showed improvement in their overall health and well-being as reported by their owners. However, six dogs had ongoing issues with their shunts, and two of them needed additional surgery to address the problem. Overall, the treatment was successful for the majority of the dogs, leading to better health outcomes.
Abstract
The congenital portosystemic shunts in 23 dogs were closed partially in 18 and completely in five with a single silk ligature. The clinical results were studied and the degree of portosystemic shunting was measured by a scintigraphic method, the results being expressed as the shunt index (SI). In 17 of the dogs, the mean (sd) SI decreased from 0.92 (0.16) before surgery to 0.34 (0.25) during surgery after the attenuation of the shunt, and then to 0.10 (0.12) one month later. The dogs' venous ammonia concentration decreased from 203 (122) microM before surgery to 36 (18) one month after surgery. At the same time the clinical scores improved significantly. There were positive correlations between the SI and the general evaluation of the dogs' well-being by their owners (rs = 0.60), the ammonia concentration (rs = 0.86), and the diameter of the shunt (rs = 0.86). In the other six dogs, the intraoperative and/or postoperative SI was high. In two of them the shunt was further attenuated during a second operation, which resulted in lower SI values; in two a second small shunt was responsible for the high SI; in one multiple portosystemic shunts were found postmortem; and one dog was lost to follow-up.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10230010/