Cranial Vena Cava Syndrome in Guinea Pigs with Chronic Jugular Vein Catheters.

Cranial Vena Cava Syndrome in Guinea Pigs with Chronic Jugular Vein Catheters. Comp Med. 2020 Jan 16;: Authors: Cooper TK, Byrum RA, Cooper K, Evans DeWald L, Aiosa NM, Feuerstein IM, St Claire MC Abstract Guinea pigs are a premier small animal model for infectious disease research, and chronic indwelling venous access portsmay be used to facilitate various procedures. Here we report catheter-related lesions in 5 uninfected Dunkin-Hartley guineapigs with chronic jugular vein catheters used for imaging studies. Three guinea pigs were found dead with no premonitorysigns. At necropsy, there was severe bilateral pulmonary atelectasis due to 20 to 29 mL of pleural effusion resulting fromcatheter-related thrombosis and cranial vena cava syndrome. In addition, one of these 3 guinea pigs had a polymicrobialcatheter infection with abscessation. A 4th clinically normal guinea pig was euthanized at the end of the study, having spontaneouslylost its catheter 7 mo prior, and had 17 mL of pleural effusion. The 5th guinea pig was euthanized following poolingof contrast material around the distal catheter in the cranial vena cava on CT. By histology, affected animals had recent andremote thrombosis or fibrosis (or both) of the cranial vena cava and right atrial wall, with osseous and cartilaginous metaplasia.Cranial vena cava syndrome should be considered as a differential for dyspnea or death in chronically catheterizedlaboratory animals. P...
Source: Comparative Medicine - Category: Zoology Authors: Tags: Comp Med Source Type: research