Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with abdominal fibrosarcoma caused by retained surgical swab
By Rayner, E L et al.·Published in Journal of comparative pathology·2010·Health Protection Agency, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Abdominal fibrosarcoma associated with a retained surgical swab in a dog.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 3-year-old female Rottweiler was brought in because she wasn't eating and seemed very tired. After surgery, the vet found a mass in her abdomen that was surrounding a piece of a surgical swab that had been left inside her. Unfortunately, the cancer had spread to her liver, lymph nodes, and lungs, and the decision was made to humanely euthanize her. This case highlights the serious risks of foreign objects being left inside pets during surgery, which can lead to cancer.
People also search for: dog not eating · Rottweiler lethargy · dog cancer from surgical swab · foreign body surgery risks
Abstract
An abdominal fibrosarcoma surrounding a retained surgical swab was identified in a 3-year-old neutered female rottweiler dog presented with chronic inappetence and lethargy. Laparotomy revealed a mass within the omentum, multiple hepatic masses and enlarged mesenteric lymph nodes. The dog was humanely destroyed and submitted for necropsy examination. Microscopically, the omental mass was consistent with a sarcoma surrounding centrally located fibres of foreign material and was infiltrated by epithelioid macrophages containing intracytoplasmic fibre fragments. Sarcoma tissue was also present in mesenteric lymph nodes, liver, spleen and lungs, and some affected lymph nodes contained intralesional epithelioid macrophages with fibre fragments. Immunohistochemical and electron microscopical examinations were consistent with a diagnosis of fibrosarcoma. By fibre analysis and electron microscopy, the intratumoural fibres were identified as cotton fibres with features identical to those obtained from a surgical swab. To our knowledge this is the first description of an abdominal fibrosarcoma associated with a retained surgical swab in a dog. Other examples of foreign body-associated sarcomas in the veterinary literature are vaccine- and implant-induced sarcomas.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20096417/