Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with hind leg weakness caused by pelvic fibrosarcoma nerve damage
By Vanhaesebrouck, A E et al.·Published in The Journal of small animal practice·2012·Department of Small Animal Medicine and Clinical Biology·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Bilateral obturator neuropathy caused by an intrapelvic fibrosarcoma with myofibroblastic features in a dog.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 9-year-old female Rottweiler was brought in because she had trouble moving her back legs together for the past six weeks. The vet found that both hind legs were spreading apart when she walked, and there was pain in her left thigh. After some tests, they discovered a large tumor in her pelvis that was pressing on the nerves controlling her legs. Unfortunately, the tumor was a high-grade sarcoma, and the dog was euthanized due to the severity of her condition.
People also search for: Rottweiler hind leg problems · dog tumor symptoms · what causes leg weakness in dogs
Abstract
A nine-year-old female Rottweiler presented with a 6-week history of progressive impairment of hindlimb adduction. Clinical examination showed abduction of both hind legs when walking on a smooth surface, pain at the medial surface of the left thigh, and an intrarectal palpable mass at the pelvic floor. Electromyography demonstrated fibrillation potentials in the adductor muscles on both sides. Pelvic radiographs showed severe osteolysis of the ischium. Gross post-mortem examination following euthanasia disclosed a large retroperitoneal mass, invading the obturator foramina and compressing both obturator nerves. Histopathological examination revealed a high-grade anaplastic sarcoma. Immunohistochemically, the tumour cells labelled positively for vimentin and alpha-smooth muscle actin, hence the tumour was considered a "myofibroblastic fibrosarcoma". This unique case report describes a novel cause of obturator neuropathy in veterinary medicine. To date, clinical descriptions of obturator nerve lesions have been limited to pelvic fractures in small animals and following difficult labour in large animals.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22691019/