Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with Addison's disease caused by cancer in both adrenal glands
By Kook, P H et al.·Published in The Journal of small animal practice·2010·Clinic for Small Animal Internal Medicine·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Addison's disease due to bilateral adrenal malignancy in a dog.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 12-year-old Rottweiler-Labrador mix was brought to the vet because he was not eating and seemed weak. Tests showed he had Addison's disease (a condition where the adrenal glands don't produce enough hormones) due to cancer in both adrenal glands. Although he initially responded to treatment, he got worse again, and the owners decided to euthanize him after surgery to remove the adrenal glands. Unfortunately, the diagnosis confirmed that he had aggressive adrenal cancer.
People also search for: dog Addison's disease symptoms · Rottweiler weakness and not eating · adrenal cancer in dogs treatment
Abstract
A 12-year-old Rottweiler cross Labrador was presented with anorexia and weakness. Adrenal insufficiency was diagnosed with hyponatraemia, hyperkalaemia and undetectable resting and post-ACTH cortisol and aldosterone concentrations. The only abnormal diagnostic imaging result was bilateral adrenomegaly. Cytologic findings of liver, spleen and peripheral lymph nodes were normal. The dog responded initially to standard replacement therapy but relapsed shortly afterwards. The owners opted for euthanasia and allowed only removal of both adrenal glands. Microscopically, infiltrative polymorphic proliferations of densely packed tumour cells arranged as nests, intermingled with multifocal areas of necrosis and inflammatory cells were found. Silver staining revealed a few non-neoplastic adrenomedullary cells, whereas neoplastic cells did not stain. Immunohistochemistry was negative for neuron-specific enolase, vimentin, cytokeratin, synaptophysin, chromogranin A, S-100 protein, CD 56, 79 and 3. The final diagnosis was highly anaplastic bilateral adrenal neoplasia. This is the first report of bilateral adrenal malignancy presenting as clinical hypoadrenocorticism in a dog.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20492452/