Description

The discussion on congenital portosystemic shunts is a case based lecture looking at diagnosis and treatment of this malady. Congenital portosystemic shunts are surprisingly common. They do not all have the typical signs described in books. In particular, hepatic encephalopathy does not always present with obvious central nervous signs. Many affected dogs have relatively subtle clinical signs that are typically missed by most clinicians. While serum bile acids are a very sensitive test, they are not perfect. Not all dogs with congenital portosystemic shunts have microhepatia. While dogs with obvious clinical signs due to their congenital portosystemic shunts typically respond well to surgical correction, dogs with minimal to no clinical signs may not need surgical correction.

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