![]() The purpose of this article is to present images and video recordings highlighting the clinical, sonographic, and necropsy findings of cows with chronic suppurative pnemonia. The lack of correlation between lungs sounds and distribution of pathology in “wheel-barrow negative” ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA) cases, despite the OPA lesions extending to involve up to 20% of lung tissue, serves to emphasise the apparent lack of sensitivity and specificity of auscultation. However, authors in more recent papers have limited their descriptions of auscultation findings of the respiratory tract to distribution rather than character no abnormal sounds recorded (score 0), abnormal sounds audible predominantly anteroventrally (score 1), abnormal sounds audible throughout the entire lung field (score 2), or have simply commented in a more general sense on the presence of ‘loud and prolonged respiratory sounds’. A wide range of descriptors has also been used in the clinical literature for abnormal lung sounds in sheep including increased vesicular sounds for a ram with severe chronic suppurative pleuropneumonia, and wheezing, rubbing vesicular and murmuring sounds in sheep with bacterial respiratory infections, followed by absence of residual bronchial catarrh in the same sheep during recovery. ![]() Reference textbooks on clinical examination describe abnormal lower respiratory sounds in ruminants as clicking, popping or bubbling sounds, crackling sounds, wheezes, and pleuritic friction rubs. The ability to ascertain the nature and distribution of lung pathology by auscultation remains unproven despite the fact that it remains the cornerstone of clinical examination of the ruminant respiratory tract. Treatment with procaine penicillin for 42 consecutive days resulted in marked improvement with return to normal appetite and improvement in body condition in 8 of 12 cows (67%) where lesions did not extend more than 10-15 cm above the level of the olecranon on both sides of the chest.ĭescriptions of adventitious sounds are very variable and the extent to which these sounds can be auscultated over specific lung pathologies has been questioned in ovine respiratory diseases. Trueperella (formerly Arcanobacterium) pyogenes was isolated from three of four lung tissue samples at necrospy. Rumen contraction sounds were commonly transmitted over areas of lung pathology. In general, sounds were reduced in volume over consolidated lung relative to normal lung tissue situated dorsally. It proved difficult to differentiate increased audibility of normal lung sounds due to tachypnoea from wheezes coarse crackles were not commonly heard. Ultrasonographic examination of the chest readily identified pathological changes consistent with severe lung pathology subsequently confirmed as chronic suppurative pneumonia in four cows at necropsy eight cows recovered well after antibiotic treatment and were discharged two to six weeks after admission. All cattle were tachypnoeic (>40 breaths per minute) with frequent and productive coughing, halitosis, and a purulent nasal discharge most noticeable when the head was lowered. Most cows (8/12) had a normal rectal temperature on presentation but all cows had received antibiotic therapy at some time in the previous two weeks and six animals were receiving antibiotic treatment upon admission. Twelve cows, referred to the University of Edinburgh Veterinary School, were diagnosed with chronic suppurative pneumonia and enrolled into this prospective study to record and monitor lung sounds, ultrasonographic findings, and response to a standardised antibiotic treatment regimen. Simultaneous recording of sounds overlying normal lung and defined pathology allows critical assessment of auscultated sounds in the same animal removing confounding factors such as respiratory rate and thickness of the chest wall (body condition). Modern portable ultrasound machines provide the veterinary practitioner with an inexpensive, non-invasive tool with which to examine the pleural surfaces and superficial lung parenchyma. Auscultation is considered the critical component of the veterinary clinical examination for the diagnosis of bovine respiratory disease but the accuracy with which adventitious sounds reflect underlying lung pathology remains largely unproven.
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