Buying a Dog with Pulmonary Stenosis: some medico-legal considerations

Abstract

Pulmonic stenosis (PS) is a malformation of pulmonary valve, involving the right ventricular outflow tract or the pulmonary artery. German shepherd, Bulldog, Labrador retriever, Collie and Boxer are breeds predisposed. Clinical signs are aspecific and include stunting, exercise intolerance, dyspnoea, syncope and ascites. Often PS may determine audible cardiac murmur and when audible is a high frequency, crescendo-decrescendo murmur during systole, loudest over the left side of the thorax, near the sternal cardiac border. The veterinarian should be able to assess PS such as heart defects because they may be object of legal disputes. In this study, the Authors report some cases of PS in dogs to clarify whether or not it may be considered a redhibitory defect.