LETTERS

Editor:

I have read with much interest the excellent article by Drs. Abbott and Porzio' in the NovemberDecember 1998 issue of the journal. In it, they have stated that the antemor- tern diagnosis of aortic sinus rupture has not been reported in the dog. I would like to call their attention to an article by Drs. J Kleine, GE Bisgard and RE Lewis2 in which an antemortern diagnosis of a rupture of the aortic sinus was described. In this 1966 manuscript, the anatomical variation described resembles the one more commonly reported in humans (i.e., the sinus ruptures into the right ventricular outflow tract). Radiographically, there was evidence of con- gestive heart failure caused by a concurrent aortic insuffi- ciency and the left-to-right shunt created by the defect. The definitive diagnosis was established by aortography. The animal died 4 days after the diagnosis was made. Rupture of the aortic sinus (Sinus of Valsalva) is indeed an extremely rare abnormality.

Sincerely, Mauricio Solano MV Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine

REFERENCES 1. Abbott JA, Porzio P. Rupture of the left aortic sinus into the pulmo-

nary artery in a dalmatian dog. Veterinary Radiology & Ultrasound Vo139,

2. Kleine LJ, Bisgard GE, Lewis RE. Rupture of the aortic sinus and aortic insufficiency in a dog. JAVMA Vol 149, No 8 Oct 15 1966 pp 1050-1055.

NO 6 1998 pp 544-550.

Editor:

We wish to thank Dr. Solano for his comments and for bringing to our attention the report by Dr. Kleine' that de- tails the antemortem diagnosis of aortic sinus rupture in a boxer dog. The clinical presentation of the two cases dif- fered; in the Dalmatian of our report2, the aortic rupture was believed to be spontaneous while endocarditis was con- firmed as the etiology of rupture in the boxer dog. Regard- less however, the cases were substantially similar and more- over, Dr. Kleine and his colleagues arrived at an antemor- tern diagnosis of the condition. We were unaware of this paper and wish to apologize to Dr. Kleine, his coauthors and the readership of the journal. A computer search was per- formed before the manuscript was submitted but one of the two databases that we used extended only back to 1972. We wish to thank Dr. Kleine, who sent us a reprint of his article and, Dr. Solano for bringing the oversight to our attention; again, we apologize for our inadequate search of the litera- ture.

Sincerely, Jonathan A. Abbott Paolo Porzio

REFERENCES 1. Kleine L.l, Bisgard GE, Lewis RE. Rupture of the aortic sinus and

aortic insufficiency in a dog. J Am Vet Med Assoc 1966;149:1050-1055. 2. Abbott JA, Porzio P. Rupture of the left aortic sinus into the pulmo-

nary artery in a Dalmatian dog. Vet Rad and Ultrasound 1998;39544-550.

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