Neville is a 3 YO MC Pit Bull
Presenting complaint: detached retinas
Late March presented to GP vet who found:
scleral injection, blepharospasm, and third eyelid protrusion he was started on antibiotic eye drops.
He became blind and represented with:
absent menace and direct/indirect PLRs OU. scleral injection and blepharospasm OU. Fundic examination revealed retinal hemorrhage OS.
Blood pressure ranged from: systolic 170-190 mmHg
Several days later he was referred to an ophthalmologist who found:
systemic hypertension and retinal detachment of both eyes. Increased IOP (I don’t have numbers on IOP)
He was started on dorzolamide, latanoprost, amlodipine, prednisone, and doxycycline.
During this time a workup ruled out:
Abdominal ultrasound ruled out adrenal tumor, found some punctate urolithiasis
Thoracic and abdominal radiographs were normal except for BB gunshot
CBC: unremarkable?Superchem: unremarkable?Total T4: wnl?Fungal Serology: histoplasma antibody negative, blastomyces antibody negative, aspergillus antibody negative Coccidioidomycosis: IgM negative, IgG negative, titer not indicated?Ehrlichia Canis: negative?Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever: negative?Cryptococcal Antigen: negative?Toxoplasmosis IgG/IgM: negative
Uveitis PCR negative
UA has +1 protein but normal UPC
Several days later another ophthalmologist found:
OU: absent menace response, conjunctival hyperemia, mild aqueous flare, miosis, fundus partially visible: vessels enlarged/poorly defined; optic nerve hazy/dark. IOP 5 mm Hg OD, 4 mm Hg OS. suggestive of vasculitis OU, hypertensive retinopathy can not be excluded, uveitis OU: likely secondary to systemic disease Recommend: STOP XALANTAN, cosopt BID OU, predacetate BID OU
At this time he also had:
Hyperbilirubinemia
Tbili= 7.3 (0-0.3)
And hepatocellular hepatopathy
Alkphos=3285 (5-160)
ALT 5678 (18-121)
AST 1219 (16-55)
Cholesterol 465 (131-345)
This was worked up and assumed to be a reaction to doxycycline; indeed it started resolving upon discontinuing doxy and is almost normal now.
This is when I met Neville
I diagnosed him with Blood/Yin deficiency and started him on tian ma gou teng yin based on:
Pale tongue
Thin pulse
History of chronic mild ear infections, skin that turned pink at night which resolved with change to hydrolyzed food
Heat intolerance
Some anxiety related to fear of certain types of people and rustling bags
This illness began several weeks after a young (healthy) female basset hound was adopted, I also interpreted this as an anxiety response.
I did not really buy the autoimmune uveitis idea- because I couldn’t really find evidence for autoimmune disease at this point.
I thought he had essential hypertension leading to retinal detachment and uveitis.
The client is reluctant to cook for him 100% but has agreed to start adding some cooked pork to his hydrolyzed kibble since pork is cooling and a novel protein for him to tonify Blood.
2 weeks later:
He was much improved, his retinas were partially reattached and he regained some sight
So he was tapered from prednisone.
Shortly after tapering prednisone the uveitis returned despite his blood pressure remaining regulated at around systolic 140.
So clearly I was wrong and he must have an autoimmune disease.
He has just been restarted on prednisone and his internist is planning on changing to cyclosporine once he is stable again.
I am thinking I should change him to Xiao chai hu tang since he has autoimmune uveitis?
But I could not find any physical exam evidence for it like a wiry pulse that responds to GB34.
I also find it confusing that he has hypertension with no glomerulonephritis, I don’t know how an autoimmune disease could produce these signs?
He does have a long medical history for a 3 year old dog who was adopted as an adult:
Several months previous to the retinal detachment he developed some temporal muscle atrophy. His masseter muscles seem normal, and it has not progressed much. He has not been tested for masseter muscle myositis.
When he was adopted :
heartworm positive (treated with melarsomine 3/22) which caused a facial droop which resolved, and a shock reaction which also resolved.
So after that long history my questions are:
Should I change him from Tian Ma Gou teng yin to Xiao chai hu tang?
or something else?
Thank you in advance for any guidance!