From:
Bruce Williams, DVM
Date: 2001-11-05 23:24:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Cause & treatment for pancreatitis?
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Debi Christy" <ferrets1st@f...>
wrote:
> We did surgery on Lucky this morning for what we suspected was a
> hairball or possible partial blockage. No hairball or foreign
bodies
> were found in the stomach or intestinal tract.
>
> What we found was a very reddened, inflamed pancreas, gas bloated
> stomach, and a non-distinct mass of something in the mezzinary(sp?)
> area surrounded by fat. The intestinal tract had occasional
> hemorraged areas throughout it's length (maybe a total of 5 areas,
> 1/8" to 1/4" long spots that appeared as though blood vessels had
> ruptured in the surface of the gut). Doc's best guess on the mass
was
> maybe something going on with the lymph node supposed to be in that
> area, even though it really didn't look much like a lymph node.
It's
> being sent for histopath.
>
> The questions are: What causes this and what's the best or
> recommended treatment?
>
> Debi
Dear Debi:
It is always best not to try to interpret gross changes such as
theses at surgery in the absence of histology. Minor changes in
blood flow associated with anesthesia may give an inflamed appearance
to the pancreas or sections of the intestine in the absence of any
major problem. Mild congestion or hemorrhage on the surface of the
gut is rarely indicative of any deeper problem. As anesthesia often
results in gut stasis, gaseous distention is often simply a result of
a lack of peristaltic movement. The odd looking spot in the
mesentery may be a small area of fat necrosis or indeed a small
inflamed lymph node.
At any rate, there is nothing here that should be treated before the
histopathology comes back, and possibly nothing worth treating at all.
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM