Obstetrical Management of Hydrocephalic Fetal Monster in a Tharparker Cow: A Case Report

Abstract

Hydrocephalus condition is described either as an external or an internal. In the external hydrocephalus (Vidya Sagar et al., 2010), fluid accumulates in the subarachnoid space exterior to the brain, whereas in the internal hydrocephalus fluid accumulates in the ventricles of the brain. There are several forms of congenital deformity in the bovine fetus. Among them, congenital hydrocephalus has been described in cattle (Purohit et al., 2006; Dar et al., 2012; Ravikumar et al., 2013; Tripathi et al., 2014; Prakash et al., 2016; Megahed, 2017; Chhetri et al., 2018 ) and buffalo (Salunke et al., 2001; Kumaresan et al., 2003; Pandey et al., 2010). The diagnosis of the condition is easy if the fetus is in an anterior presentation. In fetuses with very large heads, puncture of the head with a trochar is advocated to relieve dystocia, along with routine obstetric maneuvers (Salunke et al., 2001) Sometimes, the calf may be born normally (Vidya Sagar et al., 2010) or by cesarean section when required (Kumaresan et al., 2003; Megahed, 2017). This paper aims to report a case of fetal hydrocephalus delivered per vaginally after obstetrical management in a Tharparker cow.