Treatment of myocardial dysfunction and pulmonary oedema in an infant chimpanzee

The care of any critically ill infant requires special technical equipment for monitoring of cardiac and pulmonary functions including mechanical ventilators and blood gas analysers. The present paper describes the treatment of myocardial dysfunction and pulmonary distress, complicated by severe brain oedema in an infant chimpanzee admitted to an intensive care unit in the Department of Neonatology of the Children's Hospital of the University of Leipzig. The condition of the chimpanzee was diagnosed and monitored by standard clinical tooös including radiography, echocardiography, cerebral Doppler sonography and laboratory parameters. The chimpanzee was treated in close cooperation between veterinarians and paediatricians.