Prolonged foetal retention in a bitch resulting in trichogranulomatuous panmetritis and re-establishment of fertility after unilateral ovariohysterectomy.

Abstract

This case report describes the clinical course, the diagnostic and therapeutic management as well as histopathological findings in a case of foetal retention for about 5 months in a 5-year-old Boxer. Clinical symptoms included mucosanguinous vaginal discharge and a firm ovoid mass of about duck egg size palpable in mid abdomen. Sonographic examination was not suitable to visualize uterine contents, while radiography revealed a conglomeration of foetal bones focally visible in the right uterine horn, which was surgically removed together with the ipsilateral ovary in order to maintain the fertility of the bitch. After lancing the uterine wall the osseous skeleton as well as parts of hairy skin and muscles of the foetus attaching the uterine wall were detected. Histologically a unilateral necrotizing panmetritis with almost complete destruction of the endometrial structures was diagnosed. Furthermore, the endometrium, the myometrium as well as the serosa revealed a severe trichogranulomatuous inflammation with numerous foetal hairs visible within the inflammatory alterations. After treatment of the bitch with prostaglandin F(2alpha) and an antibiotic agent she became pregnant in the second heat after surgery and gave birth to two healthy puppies. This is the first report on foetal retention for several months followed by unilateral ovariohysterectomy with subsequent recovery of fertility. Furthermore, this case report describes for the first time the histomorphological diagnosis of a unilateral trichogranulomatuous panmetritis in a bitch.