2015 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

This study adds new information about the potential role of canine vector borne diseases (CVBD) in canine pericardial effusion. The most frequent pathogens detected were babesiosis and leishmaniosis and corroborated previous literature findings. In dogs infected with leishmaniosis with heavy parasitaemia minimal pericardial effusion can be present that usually resolved spontaneously. In infectious diseases such as babesiosis, heart may suffer from the same pathological processes described in other organs, such as inflammation and hypoxia, causing pericardial effusion. However in this study CBVD were not found more often in dogs with pericardial effusion compared with neoplastic effusion, therefore a cause-effect relationship can not be stablished with those results. Interestingly some infectious disease such as bartonellosis are suggested to have oncogenic potential and more research is needed to clarify the possible role of infectious diseases in dogs with neoplastic pericardial effusion. It is worth to note that the sensitivity of the PCR protocol used in the present investigation may not have been high enough to detect some pathogens such as Bartonella spp. Moreover Borrelia spp was not included as blood sample is not the ideal sample to detect this pathogen. Another limitation was the retrospective nature of the study, with no information about previous treatments received that may have altered the results of PCR.