Epidemiology and distribution of extrarenal lesions of uremia in 161 dogs

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to determine the epidemiology and the morphological characteristics (including the anatomic localization) of the extrarenal uremic lesions, as well as to describe the main lesions of the urinary system associated with the occurrence of uremia, through analysis of the protocols of necropsies performed in dogs from January 1996 to December 2012 (17 years) at the Laboratório de Patologia Veterinária of the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria. A total of 4,201 dogs were necropsied and 161 (3.8%) had extrarenal uremic lesions. In 134 dogs (83.2%) clinical signs associated with uremia were reported. The extrarenal lesions more often observed, in descending order of prevalence, were ulcerative and hemorrhagic gastritis (56.5%), soft-tissue mineralization (55.9%), pulmonary edema (47.2%), ulcerative stomatitis and/or glossitis (30.4%), endocarditis/atrial and aortic thrombosis (28.6%), parathyroid hyperplasia (9.3%), fibrous osteodystrophy (8.1%), anemia (6.2%), ulcerative laryngitis (5%), ulcerative and hemorrhagic enteritis (3.7%), fibrinonecrotic esophagitis (1.9%), and fibrinous pericarditis (1.9%). In most of the cases, the extrarenal lesions of uremia were due to prolonged azotemia secondary to severe renal lesions, such as interstitial nephritis and glomerulonephritis (the most prevalent ones).

Index Terms:
Azotemia; diseases of dogs; extrarenal lesions; uremia