Usefulness of Radiographic Measurement of Aortic Diameters in the Risk Evaluation of Acute Gastric Dilatation in Rabbits

Abstract

Rabbits that develop acute gastric dilatation (AGD) due to a gastrointestinal motility disorder experience intense sharp pain and shock and sometimes die even after receiving treatment. It is difficult to judge their fatality risk, and it would be very useful to judge it easily at the first medical examination. Here, we investigated a highly reliable method for judging their fatality risk with 28 rabbits that developed AGD (23 recovered, 3 died, and 2 required lifesaving measures) and 33 normal rabbits. The aortic diameter on the initial radiographs of dead rabbits was significantly narrower than that of the animals that showed recovery. Thirty-three normal rabbits showed that a middle grade correlation between aortic diameter and body weight. In animals requiring life-saving measures, the reduced aortic diameter recovered to a normal value after treatment. We suggest that radiographic measurement of the aortic diameter has the highest reliability to evaluate an affected rabbited risk of death. We believe that the arterial narrowing reflects the aorta baroreceptor reflex following shock-related low blood pressure and might be related to the pathology of AGD in rabbits.