Veterinary Clinical Medicine-I (General and Systemic)

CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE-DIAGNOSIS

Diagnosis

• History
  • The patient may or many not have a history of a previous problem. The patient may or may not be an medication. The patient may have a dry and harsh cough, especially at night, in the early morning, or after exercise. The patient may be restless at night, have orthopnea, exercise intolerance, syncope, respiratory distress

• Clinical signs
  • Left-sided heart failure:dyspnea, tachypnea, coughing, cyanosis, hemoptysis, murmur or arrhythmia, cardiac cachexia, cardiogenic shock, pulmonary edema , fever.
  • Right-sided heart failure: possibly pleural effusion, muffled heart sounds, pericardial effusion, ascries, distended jugular veins with visible pulsations, pallor, synope.

• Laboratory tests
  • CBC, electrolytes, BUN, ALT, Alk, Phos, serum thyroxin levels, heart worm microfilaria or immunologic tests, urinalysis.

• Throacic radiographs
  • Cardiomegaly. With left-sided heart failure, may see dorsal displacement-Cardiomegaly and pulmonary edema. With right-sided heart failure, may see pleural effusion, engored caudal vena cava, and hepatomegaly.

• Echoradiography
  • May see mitral or tricuspid regurgitation, dilated cardiac chambers, thickened ventricular walls, pericardinal effusion, or dilated pulmonary vessels.

Prognosis

• The prognosis is fair to grave.