Acute intraparenchymal cerebral haemorrhage in an Iberian golden eagle – a case report

Cláudia S. Baptista, Carla Monteiro, Hélder Fernandes, Ana Canadas, Luísa Guardão, Joana C. Santos

In birds there are reports of intracranial lesions but not of the clinical, computed tomographic and histopathologic features of acute intraparenchymal cerebral haemorrhage in Iberian golden eagle. The following report describes a case of a 30-year-old Iberian golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos homeyeri) with no history of trauma, presented with acute opisthotonus, left head tilt and circling, anisocoria, positional nystagmus, and ataxia. The main differential diagnosis were hypovitaminosis B or E and intracranial disease due to trauma, infection, toxins or masses. A computed tomography (CT) of the head was performed with an 8-slices scanner and evidenced a hyperdense (63-65 HU) non-enhancing homogeneous well delineated round area in the midbrain, with 6 mm in its highest diameter. The attenuation values and the non-enhancing nature of the lesion strongly suggested the diagnosis of acute intraparenchymal haemorrhage, which was histologically confirmed after necropsy. In birds with a central neurological dysfunction, the diagnosis of acute brain haemorrhage should be considered when the CT evidences a non-enhancing, homogeneous, well circumscribed hyperattenuated round area.