Myocardial infarction secondary to a disseminated coagulopathy in a cow.
A 3-year-old Holstein cow was presented with a history of high fever, jaundice and subsequent recumbency. The animal died 3 hours after arrival at our department; continuous electrocardiographic examination was performed during those last 3 hours. There were ventricular premature beats (VPBs) with high frequency and complex patterns (bigeminal, trigeminal, repetitive or early cycle VPBs) and paroxysms of ventricular tachycardia (VT). Serum CK-MB was markedly elevated. On histopathological examination, large areas of myocardial necrosis were found in the anterior aspects of the left ventricle. Large, partially organized thrombi occluded the intramural coronary arteries within and adjacent to the lesion. From the histopathological findings, it appeared that a disseminated coagulopathy caused the thromboembolism in the intramural coronary arteries, resulting in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Various clinical findings, such as arrhythmias, were similar to those in man.
Machida
N
N
Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University, Japan.
Aohagi
Y
Y
Yamaga
Y
Y
Shimada
A
A
Umemura
T
T
Kagota
K
K
D000818:Animals; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000662:veterinary; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary; D004211:Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation / Q000150:complications / Q000662:veterinary*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000662:veterinary; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000473:pathology; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D009336:Necrosis