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  Discussion on Research Summary: Vegetative Endocarditis in Horses
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DrO

Posted on Friday, Nov 14, 2008 - 9:33 am:

Recurrent fever, poor performance, and heart murmurs are indicative of possible vegetative endocarditis. This report adds some clinical and lab findings that further might support the diagnosis. Echocardiography is used to diagnose the condition and blood cultures should help with appropriate antibiotic therapy.
DrO

J Vet Intern Med. 2008 Nov-Dec;22(6):1411-6.
Vegetative endocarditis in equids (1994-2006).
Porter SR, Saegerman C, van Galen G, Sandersen C, Delguste C, Guyot H, Amory H.

Equine Teaching Hospital, Department of Companion Animals and Equids Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium.

Background: Endocarditis is a rare heart condition with variable clinical expressions in equids. Risk factors for this disease are incompletely understood. Objective: Describe risk factors for endocarditis in equids. Animals: One hundred and fifty-three equids admitted to Liege University, 9 diagnosed with endocarditis and 144 free from endocarditis but admitted to the hospital with a differential diagnosis including this disease. Methods: Retrospective case-control study. Results: Equids with endocarditis were significantly younger (mean age = 4.84 +/- 5.74 years) than control equids (mean age = 10.8 +/- 7.73 years) (P= .01). No sex or breed predisposition was observed. Animals with hyperthermia (odds ratio [OR] = 24.4; confidence interval [CI] = 1.40-428), synovial distension (OR = 13.4; CI = 3.00-59.8), lameness (OR = 6.52; CI = 1.63-26.1), hyperglobulinemia (OR = 26.4; CI = 3.03-229), hypoalbuminemia (OR = 11.4; CI = 1.34-96.8), hyperfibrinogenemia (OR = 9.81; CI = 1.16-82.7), or leukocytosis (OR = 7.12; CI = 1.40-36.4) presented a significantly higher risk of having endocarditis than control horses. The presence of two of the clinical signs mentioned above significantly increased the probability of a diagnosis of endocarditis (P</= .05). Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Age is associated with equine endocarditis. The diagnostic value of certain clinical signs and abnormalities in blood parameters in this disease are described.
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