Paragon pulls through for Poppy

The team at Paragon Veterinary Referrals has saved the life of a cocker spaniel with suspected heart problems after discovering she was actually suffering from a rare endocrine tumour.

Ten-year-old Poppy was referred to the Wakefield centre with suspected high blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat after she fell off the sofa and started to go lame.

Adrenal gland

Extensive tests were carried out – including an ECG, a heart scan, an abdominal ultrasound and a CT scan – with the latter revealing a mass in her right adrenal gland.

Further investigation revealed it was a phaeochromocytoma – a rare type of tumour that intermittently releases adrenaline, and was causing the high blood pressure and abnormal heart rhythm.

Heart scan

Poppy was first seen by Debbie Hyman, advanced practitioner in veterinary cardiology at Paragon.

She said: “The heart scan showed there was mild mitral valve regurgitation and mild borderline enlargement of left atrium (early stage B2 myxomatous mitral valve disease).”

CT scan

Dr Hyman continued: “The systolic function was slightly reduced, due to the hypertension, and diastolic function was present.

“However, this case also highlighted that not all cardiac cases are obvious and straightforward, as the abdominal scan and CT scan showed a mass in the right adrenal gland.”

Suspicious

The tumour was now diagnosed as the probable cause of Poppy’s problems and Paragon’s head of surgery, small animal specialist Mickey Tivers, got involved.

He said: “We were suspicious Poppy’s high blood pressure and abnormal heart rhythm were due to the tumour intermittently releasing adrenaline.”

Good recovery

Dr Tivers continued: “We operated to remove the tumour and the right adrenal gland. This was performed through an incision between her last two ribs, as this gave us the best access to the tumour.

“Poppy made a very good recovery from surgery and her blood pressure was decreased afterwards, so we’re confident we’ve successfully dealt with her problem.”