• Home
  • About
  • Articles
  • Books
  • Contact

Veterinary Radiology

Teaching and learning about veterinary diagnostic imaging.

  • Modality
    • Radiographs
    • Ultrasound
    • CT/MRI
  • Region
    • Thorax
    • Abdomen
    • Musculoskeletal
    • Neurologic
  • Species
    • Canine
    • Feline
    • Equine
    • Exotic

5 year old German Shepherd

July 28, 2016 By Allison Zwingenberger

Today’s case is a 5-year-old male neutered German Shepherd with difficulty breathing. What are your findings?

Show findings...

Findings

There is retraction of the lung from the thoracic wall with apparent elevation of the cardiac silhouette from the sternum. The pneumothorax is visible in the left hemithorax on the dorsoventral projection. A chest tube is visible in the right pleural space. There is increased opacity of the left caudal lung lobe with air bronchograms, resulting in an alveolar pattern. There are multiple thin curved soft tissue opacity lines ventral to the cardiac silhouette representing mediastinal and pleural tissues. There is a broad based soft tissue opacity dorsal to the second sternebra consistent with an enlarged sternal lymph node.

Show differential diagnosis…

Differential Diagnosis

Pneumonia with secondary pneumothorax, likely due to migrating foreign body (grass awn / foxtail).

Show diagnosis…

Diagnosis

Severe pleuropneumonia.
A CT examination was performed and the disease was localized to the left caudal lung lobe. A left caudal lung lobectomy was performed. Although no plant material was found on histopathology, this is a likely cause of the pleuropneumonia and pneumothorax.

Filed Under: Canine, Case of the Day, Radiographs, Thorax

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
AtlasCover787x1024 amazon-availablenow

Veterinary Radiology News

Sign up for alerts about new cases and newsletters.

We will respect your privacy.

Archives

Recent Comments

Tags

abscess adenocarcinoma bronchiectasis carcinoma cardiomyopathy coccidioidomycosis discospondylitis elbow dysplasia eosinophilic bronchopneumopathy erosive polyarthritis feline infectious peritonitis FIP foreign body fracture gastric dilation gastric foreign body gastrointestinal GDV heart failure hemangiosarcoma hiatal hernia histiocytic sarcoma hypertrophic cardiomyopathy intestinal foreign body linear foreign body lymphoma megaesophagus osteochondrosis osteomyelitis osteosarcoma patent ductus arteriosus PDA pericardial effusion pneumonia pneumothorax polyarthritis PPDH pulmonary pulmonary abscess pulmonary adenocarcinoma pulmonary carcinoma sarcoma thymoma tracheal collapse vascular ring anomaly

Copyright © 2025 · Metro Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in