Unexpected Cardiac Death During Anaesthesia of a Young Rabbit Associated with Fibro-fatty Replacement of the Right Ventricular Myocardium

A 6-month-old female pet rabbit was presented for routine ovariectomy. The pre-anaesthetic evaluation was unremarkable and no anaesthetic complications occurred during the procedure. However, at the end of the surgery, the rabbit suddenly showed acute bradycardia and cardiac death. Necropsy examinat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of comparative pathology 2017-01, Vol.156 (1), p.33-36
Main Authors: Romanucci, M., Defourny, S.V.P., Massimini, M., Valerii, V., Arbuatti, A., Giordano, V., Bongiovanni, L., Perrone, C., Della Salda, L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anesthesia, Inhalation
Anesthetics, Inhalation - therapeutic use
Animals
Cardiomyopathies - veterinary
cardiomyopathy
Death, Sudden, Cardiac - veterinary
Female
heart
Heart Ventricles - pathology
Isoflurane - therapeutic use
myocardium
Myocardium - pathology
Ovariectomy
Pets
rabbit
Rabbits
Spontaneously Arising Disease
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Summary:A 6-month-old female pet rabbit was presented for routine ovariectomy. The pre-anaesthetic evaluation was unremarkable and no anaesthetic complications occurred during the procedure. However, at the end of the surgery, the rabbit suddenly showed acute bradycardia and cardiac death. Necropsy examination revealed marked dilation of the right ventricle, associated with diffuse thinning of the right ventricular free wall. Gross and histopathological findings were suggestive of a congenital dilated cardiomyopathy characterized by fibro-fatty replacement of the right ventricular myocardium. Similar myocardial lesions have not been previously described in rabbits, although they have been documented in myocardial diseases of man, dogs, cats, cattle, horses and chimpanzees.
ISSN:0021-9975
1532-3129
DOI:10.1016/j.jcpa.2016.10.008