Seizures and neck pain from meningeal tumor in Chihuahua dog

Abstract

A 10-year-old, female spayed Chihuahua dog was presented to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at the University of Georgia for evaluation of seizures, abnormal mentation, and cervical pain of 2 months duration. On magnetic resonance imaging, there was generalized thickening of the meninges overlying the left cerebral hemisphere and along the falx cerebri. Despite symptomatic treatment, the dog remained neurologically affected. Consequently, the owners elected euthanasia. On gross examination, the meninges covering the left cerebral hemisphere were severely thickened and firmly adhered to the calvaria. On transverse section, the white matter of the left cerebral hemisphere was swollen, enlarged, and extended across the midline with resultant compression of the right cerebral hemisphere. Cytologic evaluation of an impression smear of the thickened meninges showed numerous large, spindloid to polygonal cells with abundant, amphophilic, vacuolated cytoplasm, present either in clusters or in individual cells. Histopathologic evaluation of the meninges revealed a poorly circumscribed and infiltrative, moderately cellular neoplasm, composed of vacuolated, spindloid to polygonal cells with marked anisocytosis and anisokaryosis, arranged in sheets, and occasionally separated by thick bands of connective tissue. Immunohistochemistry for vimentin revealed diffuse cytoplasmic staining of the neoplastic cells. Although the periodic acid-Schiff reaction was negative, ultrastructural findings showed numerous vesicles that were empty or that contained membranous or electron-dense material. Based on gross, microscopic, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural changes, the meningeal neoplasm was diagnosed as an atypical granular cell tumor.