Introduction
Hematogenous pneumonia was a new disease to me when I took on a case in February of 2022. I quickly learned that hematogenous pneumonia is a type of infection that starts somewhere else and then travels the bloodstream and makes pockets of infections in the lungs. This specific case started out mildly and quickly went south.
Synopsis
Banjo was an 8-year-old, male, castrated, mixed-breed dog who was initially presented to my hospital as a referral for pelvic limb edema. A whole body CAT scan was performed which revealed edema in his right pelvic limb and pockets of infection in his lung, hematogenous pneumonia was his diagnosis and we quickly made a plan for treating him. Banjo’s only previous medical history was bilateral ex-caps the year before and the assumption was that his implant was infected causing the edema and hematogenous edema. Banjo presented with normal vital signs. We made a plan to hospitalize him with intravenous fluid therapy as antibiotics. That same night, Banjo became oxygen dependent. And then the next morning, bruising was noted on his pelvic limbs and he was still bleeding for where the nasal line was sutured in place. I alerted the veterinarian taking his case and PT/aPTT times were run which revealed he now had a coagulopathy. Banjo received a plasma transfusion, a platelet transfusion, and then a pRBC transfusion. Over the next two days, he would receive 2 more plasma transfusions, one more pRBC transfusion, and a whole blood transfusion. Eventually, Banjo had to be transferred to a university after 5 days of being in our hospital where he succumbed to his illness another 24 hours later. A necropsy is pending and we should have the results back in another month or two.
Conclusion
Banjo required so much nursing care from something simple like range of motion to even harder problems like whole blood transfusions. Even though we don’t have all the answers yet, we can still learn and grow from this case. It isn’t something we see every day and veterinary medicine relies on these cases to learn and grow from.
E-mail: brandie.johnson1231@gmail.com