Re: Severe haemoptysis associated with seizures in a dog

Authors: Sedy J
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 56, Issue 5, pp 252, Oct 2008
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Companion animal, Dog
Subject Terms: Circulatory system/haematology, Disease/defect, Nervous system/neurology, Respiratory system
Article class: Correspondence

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Abstract: In the paper by FE James, VS Johnson, ZM Lenard and CS Mansfield published in the New Zealand Veterinary Journal 56, 85–88, 2008, entitled, “Severe haemoptysis associated with seizures in a dog”, the authors reported a case of repeated haemoptysis and radiographically visible severe bilateral alveolar lung pattern in a 7-year-old German Shepherd dog suffering from generalised tonic-clonic seizures. On the basis of several other examination methods, they concluded that “The cause of the haemoptysis could not be defined in this dog, but was considered likely to be due to either severe neurogenic pulmonary oedema or rupture of the pulmonary capillaries secondary to seizures.” Further in the text they stated that “Haemoptysis associated with severe neurogenic pulmonary oedema, rather than traumatic rupture of the pulmonary capillaries may have occurred in this dog.” I agree with these statements. This case reported by James et al. (2008) is very interesting, because there are few reports in the scientific literature of pulmonary complications of epilepsy, even in animals. We have been examining the pathophysiology of neurogenic pulmonary oedema for several years, and the pulmonary clinical signs of the case described are almost identical to what we have repeatedly observed (Šedý et al. 2007ab). Thus, I believe the complication of epilepsy presented in the case reported by James et al. (2008) was the neurogenic pulmonary oedema. Moreover, their case is very similar to previously published case reports in humans (e.g. see Ryu et al. 2002)…continued

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