Ultrasonographic Diagnosis of Urachal Anomalies in Cats and Dogs: Retrospective Study of 98 Cases (2009-2019).

Tommaso Mannucci,Caterina Puccinelli,Francesca Perondi,Michelangelo Benvenuti,Simonetta Citi,Daniele Della Santa,Ilaria Lippi

doi:10.3390/vetsci7030084

Tommaso Mannucci, Caterina Puccinelli + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci7030084

Copy DOI

Journal: Veterinary sciences	Publication Date: Jul 2, 2020
Citations: 7	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Pisa

Abstract

This retrospective study investigated the prevalence of different urachal anomalies (UA) in cats (n = 60) and dogs (n = 38) and their association with clinical symptoms and urinalysis alterations. Among UA, the vesicourachal diverticulum was the most prevalent UA diagnosed in both cats (96.7%) and dogs (89.5%): the intramural vesicourachal diverticulum was diagnosed in 76.7% of cats and 71.1% of dogs, followed by extramural vesicourachal diverticulum (20.0% and 18.4% respectively). In both cats and dogs, bladder wall diffuse or regional thickening was the most prevalent alteration. The most common alterations of the urinary bladder content were urolithiasis sediment in cats (33.3%) and in dogs (31.6%). Dogs with UA were more often asymptomatic (p = 0.01). No difference was found in cats. Stranguria, hematuria, and urethral obstruction were the most frequently reported clinical signs, while hematuria and leukocyturia were the most prevalent abnormalities at urinalysis. In conclusion, our study confirmed UA as uncommon, and often incidental findings, with a high prevalence of animals without clinical signs.

Highlights

The urachus is a fetal connection allowing urine to pass between the developing urinary bladder and the placenta [1,2,3]
Four different Urachal anomalies (UA) have been described in dogs and cats: patent urachus, urachal cysts, vesicourachal diverticula, and urachal sinus (Figure 1) [3,4,6]
Most of the cats were of mixed lineage (n = 56, 93.3%), four cats were reported as pure breed represented breed include Persian Cats (2 cats, 3.3%), Ragdoll and Norwegian Forest Cat

Summary

Introduction

The urachus is a fetal connection allowing urine to pass between the developing urinary bladder and the placenta [1,2,3]. Urachal anomalies (UA) result from failure of the urachus to undergo complete atrophy by the time of birth: at this time it should be nonfunctional and typically look like a fibrous connective tissue remnant connecting the bladder vertex with the umbilicus [4,5]. UA are relatively uncommon congenital diseases of the lower urinary tract of dogs and cats [3,4,6]. Four different UA have been described in dogs and cats: patent urachus, urachal cysts, vesicourachal diverticula, and urachal sinus (Figure 1) [3,4,6].

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion