Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with two different heart tumors and sudden collapse
By Grieco, Valeria et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc·2008·Department of Pathology, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: A case of two different tumors in the heart of a dog.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 9-year-old spayed female Maremmano shepherd suddenly collapsed due to severe heart problems and was taken to a veterinary cardiology service. Unfortunately, her condition was very serious, and she was euthanized. A post-mortem examination revealed multiple tumors in her heart and other organs, including the spleen and liver. The tumors included a type of cancer from the mammary glands and a rare heart tumor likely originating from connective tissue cells. This case highlights a unique situation where two different types of tumors were found in the heart of a dog.
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Abstract
A 9-year-old, spayed, female Maremmano shepherd had a bilateral mastectomy for multiple mammary adenocarcinomas 2 years previous and was referred to the Cardiology Service of the School of Veterinary Medicine of Milan after an acute episode of cardiogenic collapse. Because of severe cardiovascular symptoms and poor prognosis, the dog was euthanized. Necropsy examination revealed the presence of multiple firm grayish neoplastic nodules in the myocardium of the left ventricle and scattered in the pulmonary parenchyma. Neoplastic nodules were also detected in the spleen, pancreas, liver, kidneys, and omentum. Histological examination revealed the coexistence of tubular adenocarcinoma and an undifferentiated sarcoma in the myocardium. Immunohistochemical staining of the sarcoma cells was negative for cytokeratin, desmin, and smooth muscle myosin, thus excluding their epithelial or myoepithelial origin, as well as an origin from smooth muscles cells. These findings, together with the coexpression of vimentin and alpha-smooth muscle actin, suggested that the sarcoma was derived from myofibroblasts. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report describing cardiac sarcoma of presumptive myofibroblastic origin in a dog with simultaneous occurrence of cardiac metastasis of mammary gland adenocarcinoma.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18460629/