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| Gus |
Gus is a 9 week old kitten
who was found by one of our clients as a two week old stray and
subsequently adopted by one of our staff members who bottle fed him for
a month until he was able to eat solid food. At about 7 weeks of
age, Gus began to exhibit labored breathing throughout the day.
Upon examination, we found him to be active and alert, however he did
have persistent labored shallow breathing. Listening to his lungs,
the sounds were harsh but not moist. Palpating his chest, one
could feel a dent in the sternum.
Given the fact that he had
been bottle feeding for 4 weeks, our initial rule-out was that Gus had
aspiration pneumonia. We took radiographs of Gus and found that
his lungs were clear, that is to say there was no evidence of pneumonia.
On the films, we could see that the sternum was grossly deformed and
compromising the size of the chest cavity. Because the lungs did
not have the normal area to expand in, Gus was unable to get enough
oxygen for his growing body's needs, hence, he was always breathing more
rapidly and with more effort than a normal kitten.
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Pre operative
radiographs. Notice the V shaped sternum (circled)
double click for larger
image |
Pre operative radiographs.
Notice the lungs are all clear of fluid |
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Based on the radiographs, we
diagnosed Gus with a congenital abnormality know as Pectus
Excavatum which is a deformity of the sternum and ribs which
causes a flattening of the chest cavity. Because Gus is
young, his sternum and ribs are soft enough to be manipulated
and hopefully, they can be trained to grow in the right
direction. In order to do this, we fashioned an external
brace out of a heat-moldable plastic. Then we anesthetized
Gus and placed sutures around the sternum and attached them to
the external brace in order to bring them outwards similar to
how orthodontic braces work. Once we
recovered Gus from anesthesia, he was breathing much more
normally despite having to wear the cumbersome chest brace.
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Intra-operative photo with brace fitted to chest |
Intra-operative photos notice the sutures tied over the brace
holding the sternum out to the brace. (double click to
enlarge image) |
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Thermoplast Brace fitted
for Gus's Chest |
Gus in incubator post op |
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Post Operative radiographs. Notice
that the sternum has been straightened out (circled)
double click to enlarge image. |
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Post operative radiographs show the
sternum straightened out and the chest cavity expanded to
normal. We will leave the
brace in place for 3 weeks and then remove it and re-radiograph
the chest to see if the chest cavity has been adequately
enlarged. Gus has a good prognosis for a normal life
because we were able to intervene while he was young enough to
re-train the sternum to grow more normally. |
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