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#1
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Question for someone who knows vet jargon
I've gotten copies of Meep's records to give to the new vet. Can
someone please translate this to layman's terms (any actual vets in here)? All I was told at the time is that she had some small amount of cardiomyopathy (or I may misremember). "Echo shows mild Mitral regurg and aortic insufficiency. LV wall on brink of hypertrophy (5.9mm, normal 6mm). Otherwise all chambers look normal. Fractional shortening WNL." She's a spayed dsh, at the time she was just shy of 10 years. This was a year ago, nearly exactly. I'm trying to figure out if she should get another echo to trach the status of whatever they found. She's always been a quiet kitty, so it's possible I think that any heart issues she's had from the beginning. Can that be told from this tho? Thanks for any translation. jmc |
#2
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Question for someone who knows vet jargon
On Apr 17, 5:51 am, jmc wrote:
I've gotten copies of Meep's records to give to the new vet. Can someone please translate this to layman's terms (any actual vets in here)? All I was told at the time is that she had some small amount of cardiomyopathy (or I may misremember). "Echo shows mild Mitral regurg and aortic insufficiency. LV wall on brink of hypertrophy (5.9mm, normal 6mm). Otherwise all chambers look normal. Fractional shortening WNL." She's a spayed dsh, at the time she was just shy of 10 years. This was a year ago, nearly exactly. I'm trying to figure out if she should get another echo to trach the status of whatever they found. She's always been a quiet kitty, so it's possible I think that any heart issues she's had from the beginning. Can that be told from this tho? Thanks for any translation. jmc I'm a vet. What you need... let's see... The answer to your question is.. certainly! Looks like she's got air IN the heart. It can be fatal.. and it can be no big deal. It CAN work it's way out... a vet could have put the air there through any iv's or shots etc. |
#3
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Question for someone who knows vet jargon
Suddenly, without warning, body sweat exclaimed (17-Apr-07 7:28 PM):
On Apr 17, 5:51 am, jmc wrote: I've gotten copies of Meep's records to give to the new vet. Can someone please translate this to layman's terms (any actual vets in here)? All I was told at the time is that she had some small amount of cardiomyopathy (or I may misremember). "Echo shows mild Mitral regurg and aortic insufficiency. LV wall on brink of hypertrophy (5.9mm, normal 6mm). Otherwise all chambers look normal. Fractional shortening WNL." She's a spayed dsh, at the time she was just shy of 10 years. This was a year ago, nearly exactly. I'm trying to figure out if she should get another echo to trach the status of whatever they found. She's always been a quiet kitty, so it's possible I think that any heart issues she's had from the beginning. Can that be told from this tho? Thanks for any translation. jmc I'm a vet. What you need... let's see... The answer to your question is.. certainly! Looks like she's got air IN the heart. It can be fatal.. and it can be no big deal. It CAN work it's way out... a vet could have put the air there through any iv's or shots etc. ::sigh:: I knew this was going to happen. Fortunately I do know enough to recognize hot air. jmc |
#4
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Question for someone who knows vet jargon
Suddenly, without warning, jmc exclaimed (17-Apr-07 7:50 PM):
Suddenly, without warning, body sweat exclaimed (17-Apr-07 7:28 PM): On Apr 17, 5:51 am, jmc wrote: I've gotten copies of Meep's records to give to the new vet. Can someone please translate this to layman's terms (any actual vets in here)? All I was told at the time is that she had some small amount of cardiomyopathy (or I may misremember). "Echo shows mild Mitral regurg and aortic insufficiency. LV wall on brink of hypertrophy (5.9mm, normal 6mm). Otherwise all chambers look normal. Fractional shortening WNL." She's a spayed dsh, at the time she was just shy of 10 years. This was a year ago, nearly exactly. I'm trying to figure out if she should get another echo to trach the status of whatever they found. She's always been a quiet kitty, so it's possible I think that any heart issues she's had from the beginning. Can that be told from this tho? Thanks for any translation. jmc I'm a vet. What you need... let's see... The answer to your question is.. certainly! Looks like she's got air IN the heart. It can be fatal.. and it can be no big deal. It CAN work it's way out... a vet could have put the air there through any iv's or shots etc. ::sigh:: I knew this was going to happen. Fortunately I do know enough to recognize hot air. jmc On second thought, I take that back - I think - I'm off to google some stuff to see if I can substantiate this "air in the heart" statement, never heard of such a thing. jmc |
#5
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Question for someone who knows vet jargon
On Apr 17, 6:22 am, jmc wrote:
On second thought, I take that back - I think - I'm off to google some stuff to see if I can substantiate this "air in the heart" statement, never heard of such a thing. jmc Back up and punt jmc, why are you posting this? what are the current symptoms that would make you even think about the echo? Is it the infection? I don't see how the pump (which is working fine.. it is) has anything to do with a bladder infection. what am I missing? |
#6
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Question for someone who knows vet jargon
"jmc" wrote in message ... I've gotten copies of Meep's records to give to the new vet. Can someone please translate this to layman's terms (any actual vets in here)? All I was told at the time is that she had some small amount of cardiomyopathy (or I may misremember). "Echo shows mild Mitral regurg and aortic insufficiency. LV wall on brink of hypertrophy (5.9mm, normal 6mm). Otherwise all chambers look normal. Fractional shortening WNL." She's a spayed dsh, at the time she was just shy of 10 years. This was a year ago, nearly exactly. I'm trying to figure out if she should get another echo to trach the status of whatever they found. She's always been a quiet kitty, so it's possible I think that any heart issues she's had from the beginning. Can that be told from this tho? Thanks for any translation. jmc First, I think you need to call your vet and ask for this information. (especially your question about whether another echo is needed). Second, you might want to post your questions to alt.med.veterinary since you were specifically asking for information from veterinarians. MaryL |
#7
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Question for someone who knows vet jargon
"jmc" wrote in message ... I've gotten copies of Meep's records to give to the new vet. Can someone please translate this to layman's terms (any actual vets in here)? All I was told at the time is that she had some small amount of cardiomyopathy (or I may misremember). "Echo shows mild Mitral regurg and aortic insufficiency. LV wall on brink of hypertrophy (5.9mm, normal 6mm). Otherwise all chambers look normal. Fractional shortening WNL." She's a spayed dsh, at the time she was just shy of 10 years. This was a year ago, nearly exactly. I'm trying to figure out if she should get another echo to trach the status of whatever they found. She's always been a quiet kitty, so it's possible I think that any heart issues she's had from the beginning. Can that be told from this tho? Thanks for any translation. ---------------- I'm not a vet, but I am a doctor. (I'm also not a cardiologist), but here's your translation: "Echocardiogram shows mild mitral regurgitation and aortic insufficiency. Left ventrical wall on brink of hypertrophy (5.9mm, normal 6mm). Otherwise all chambers look normal. Fractional shortening within normal limits." The heart is composed of four chambers, a left atrium, left ventricle, right atrium, and right ventricle. The aorta is the major artery (has thick muscle walls) of the body through which blood flows from the left ventricle to other organs in the body. On each side of the heart, the atrium is on top and the ventricle is on the bottom and blood is pumped from the atrium through the ventricle. Between each atrium and ventricle is a valve, which is supposed to close everytime the heart contracts to prevent the blood from backflowing ("regurgitating") from the ventricle back into the atrium. The aorta also has a valve to prevent backflow of blood from the aorta back into the left ventricle. Sometimes, these valves develop a little problem in that they don't close completely (i.e. become "insufficient"), and there is a small amount of backflow of blood. The result is that the heart has to work harder to pump the same amount of blood. Any time the heart has to work harder, the heart itself (which is a giant muscle) responds by increasing in size (hypertrophy). Cardiomyopathy is a generic medical word meaning disease of heart muscle. "Fractional shortening" is the difference in size of the heart between when it's full of blood and when it's squeezed. In a human, the condition you describe above can be mild or severe. If mild, the doctor will generally tell the patient not to worry and go on with his life. The patient may notice that he tires more easily. When it's severe, a cardiologist would probably want to do open-heart surgery and replace the leaky valve. I've never heard of this type of procedure being done on a cat, but at any rate, it sounds like your kitty's situation is mild and not severe. My thought is that you should keep an eye on the situation, maybe have the echocardiogram repeated in a couple of years, but that you probably don't have any reason to worry at this time. But, please consult a veterinian. I am not a veterinarian nor am I a cardiologist. What I have stated above is only my own understanding and opinion. Good luck. Best regards, ---Cindy S. |
#8
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Question for someone who knows vet jargon
On Apr 17, 11:24 am, "cindys" wrote:
I'm not a vet, but I am a doctor. cool deal. Can I ask what is your field of practice? I'm just curios. That was nice of you to translate for jmc. |
#9
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Question for someone who knows vet jargon
"jmc" wrote in message ... Suddenly, without warning, body sweat exclaimed (17-Apr-07 7:28 PM): On Apr 17, 5:51 am, jmc wrote: I've gotten copies of Meep's records to give to the new vet. Can someone please translate this to layman's terms (any actual vets in here)? All I was told at the time is that she had some small amount of cardiomyopathy (or I may misremember). "Echo shows mild Mitral regurg and aortic insufficiency. LV wall on brink of hypertrophy (5.9mm, normal 6mm). Otherwise all chambers look normal. Fractional shortening WNL." She's a spayed dsh, at the time she was just shy of 10 years. This was a year ago, nearly exactly. I'm trying to figure out if she should get another echo to trach the status of whatever they found. She's always been a quiet kitty, so it's possible I think that any heart issues she's had from the beginning. Can that be told from this tho? Thanks for any translation. jmc I'm a vet. What you need... let's see... The answer to your question is.. certainly! Looks like she's got air IN the heart. It can be fatal.. and it can be no big deal. It CAN work it's way out... a vet could have put the air there through any iv's or shots etc. ::sigh:: I knew this was going to happen. Fortunately I do know enough to recognize hot air. It took me a lot longer than it took you, unfortunately. I know that hypertrophy is enlargment and LV is left ventricle. Mitral regurgitation is a heart murmer in the mitral valve. (It is called that because the valve looks like a bishop's miter/hat.) Aortic insufficiency is something wrong with the aorta, the big blood vessel that feeds the heart--is it like "hardening of the arteries?" It sounds like Meep has mild heart disease, or just the beginning of it. When this happens at my vet I stop him and ask. Or call after I get home to get an explanation. |
#10
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Question for someone who knows vet jargon
"cindys" wrote: ---------------- I'm not a vet, but I am a doctor. (I'm also not a cardiologist), but here's your translation: "Echocardiogram shows mild mitral regurgitation and aortic insufficiency. Left ventrical wall on brink of hypertrophy (5.9mm, normal 6mm). Otherwise all chambers look normal. Fractional shortening within normal limits." The heart is composed of four chambers, a left atrium, left ventricle, right atrium, and right ventricle. The aorta is the major artery (has thick muscle walls) of the body through which blood flows from the left ventricle to other organs in the body. On each side of the heart, the atrium is on top and the ventricle is on the bottom and blood is pumped from the atrium through the ventricle. Between each atrium and ventricle is a valve, which is supposed to close everytime the heart contracts to prevent the blood from backflowing ("regurgitating") from the ventricle back into the atrium. The aorta also has a valve to prevent backflow of blood from the aorta back into the left ventricle. Sometimes, these valves develop a little problem in that they don't close completely (i.e. become "insufficient"), and there is a small amount of backflow of blood. The result is that the heart has to work harder to pump the same amount of blood. Any time the heart has to work harder, the heart itself (which is a giant muscle) responds by increasing in size (hypertrophy). Cardiomyopathy is a generic medical word meaning disease of heart muscle. "Fractional shortening" is the difference in size of the heart between when it's full of blood and when it's squeezed. In a human, the condition you describe above can be mild or severe. If mild, the doctor will generally tell the patient not to worry and go on with his life. The patient may notice that he tires more easily. When it's severe, a cardiologist would probably want to do open-heart surgery and replace the leaky valve. I've never heard of this type of procedure being done on a cat, but at any rate, it sounds like your kitty's situation is mild and not severe. My thought is that you should keep an eye on the situation, maybe have the echocardiogram repeated in a couple of years, but that you probably don't have any reason to worry at this time. But, please consult a veterinian. I am not a veterinarian nor am I a cardiologist. What I have stated above is only my own understanding and opinion. Good luck. Best regards, ---Cindy S. You rock, Cindy. That was fabulous. When my doctor thought I had mitral valve regurgitation, he said, over time your heart might enlarge, but otherwise you will probably be fine. (This is a very common condition, one in three people have it I think he said? I was trying to get out of PE 100, because in order to graduate college they were going to make me run three miles in 30 minutes! He would not let me out of it, and I completed the course successfully --at age 32--and found I really like running and weight training.) The really interesting thing to me, is that nobody has ever heard that "murmur" again. One doctor said, "maybe his instrument was just really sensitive. ?? |
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