Haemorrhagic Effusion

Revision as of 12:39, 12 June 2010 by A.allison (talk | contribs) (Text replace - 'Macrophages - WikiBlood' to 'Macrophages')


  • Turbid - red
  • Specific gravity 1.025 - 1.040
  • Total protein > 30g/L
  • Nucleated cells 1.5 - 10 x 10e9/L
  • WBC from peripheral blood (including neutrophils and macrophages)
  • Recent or iatrogenic
    • Erythrocytes
    • Platelet clumps
  • Long standing haemorrage
    • Macrophages with erythrophagia of haeme pigment
  • In horses in addition to the above
    • Haemorrhagic diapedesis
      • Leakage of blood and fluid from the gut secondary to compromised vascular supply and venous return
      • Seen with interstitial necrosis/ischaemia
      • Fluid appears serosanguinous

Due to

  • Most commonly seen in cats and dogs due to traumatic injury to the liver (e.g. infectious canine hepatitis), spleen (e.g. haemangiosarcoma) and kidney
  • Warfarin toxicity
  • Moldy sweet clover hay fed to pregnant cows may bleed from umbilical vessels into peritoneum
  • Manual ablation of corpus luteum in cattle