Veterinary Pathology Laboratory, College of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília 70910-900, Distrito Federal, Brazil
Isabel Luana de Mâcedo
Veterinary Pathology Laboratory, College of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília 70910-900, Distrito Federal, Brazil
Davi Emanuel Ribeiro de Sousa
Veterinary Pathology Laboratory, College of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília 70910-900, Distrito Federal, Brazil
Haiane Arruda Luz Amorim
Large Animal Veterinary Teaching Hospital, College of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília 70636-200, Distrito Federal, Brazil
José Renato Junqueira Borges
Large Animal Veterinary Teaching Hospital, College of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília 70636-200, Distrito Federal, Brazil
Fábio Henrique Bezerra Ximenes
Large Animal Veterinary Teaching Hospital, College of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília 70636-200, Distrito Federal, Brazil
Antonio Carlos Lopes Câmara
Large Animal Veterinary Teaching Hospital, College of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília 70636-200, Distrito Federal, Brazil
Márcio Botelho de Castro
Veterinary Pathology Laboratory, College of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília 70910-900, Distrito Federal, Brazil
Cardiac congenital defects related to inheritance and teratogenesis have been reported in veterinary species and humans worldwide. Among these, ectopia cordis (EC), characterized by an externalized heart through a cleft, is extremely rare in sheep. This report presents the diagnostic features of two cases of complete thoracic EC in newborn lambs. Clinical findings in the lambs, aside from the EC, were unremarkable. Both animals exhibited exteriorized hearts without pericardial coverage, delineated in the thoracic cleft by a fibrous ring of the pericardium and adjacent skin. Histologically, the epicardium was thickened by fibrous tissue in both lambs, with one animal also showing marked edema, hemorrhage, and neutrophilic inflammatory infiltration. The prognosis of EC in the lambs of this study was poor, with fatal outcomes despite attempts at surgical correction.
