Pericarditis in Bovines- A Review

Abstract

Pericarditis is the most common pericardial disease of cattle. It is an inflammation of the pericardium that results in accumulation of pericardial fluid within the pericardial sac. In cattle, it is mostly caused by the perforation of the pericardial sac by an infected foreign body through the reticulum. Clinical signs of pericarditis are tachycardia, muffled heart sounds, absence of lung sound in the ventral thorax, asynchronous abnormal heart sounds. Distension of the jugular veins and pulsation and submandibular, brisket and ventral abdominal edema are usually present. There is leukocytosis with shift to left and hyperfibrinogenaemia (indicating inflammation).The condition is difficult to diagnose only on the basis of clinical signs. However, imaging techniques like radiography and ultrasonography can be of high diagnostic value in detecting the condition. Treatment is usually not rewarding, but the disease can be prevented to a large extent by the proper managemental practices like feeding of magnets, preventing access to potential and non-potential foreign bodies in the feed and fodder of the animals.