Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Unilateral eye bulging from skull bone growth in female Springer
By Mathes, Rachel L et al.·Published in Veterinary ophthalmology·2012·Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Calvarial hyperostosis presenting as unilateral exophthalmos in a female English Springer Spaniel.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 4-month-old female English Springer Spaniel was brought in because her left eye was bulging out more than the right, a condition called unilateral exophthalmos, which had been getting worse over two weeks. After thorough testing, including a CT scan, the vet found a bony growth in her skull that was causing the issue. Fortunately, this condition, known as calvarial hyperostosis, turned out to be self-resolving. Over the next several months, follow-up scans showed that the bony growth shrank significantly, and eventually, her eye returned to normal without any further problems.
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Abstract
A 4-month-old intact female English Springer Spaniel presented to the University of Georgia Veterinary Teaching Hospital for evaluation of unilateral, progressive exophthalmos oculus sinister (OS) of 2 weeks' duration. Complete ophthalmic examination revealed moderate OS exophthalmos and lateral globe deviation. No other abnormalities were noted on physical or ophthalmic examination, ocular ultrasound, complete bloodwork, or thoracic radiography. Skull computed tomography (CT) revealed a large, focal, smoothly irregular, cavitated, expansile bony lesion involving the left caudal maxillary and left frontal bones. Biopsies, obtained through a frontal sinusotomy approach to preserve the left globe integrity, demonstrated normal reactive trabecular bone with locally extensive fibrosis. Calvarial hyperostosis was diagnosed based upon appearance on imaging, lesion unilaterality, absence of mandibular involvement, and histopathology. Six months after initial presentation, skull CT was repeated and marked reduction in the degree of frontal bone thickening was demonstrated with complete resolution of cavitations. There was marked clinical improvement with mild, nonpainful exophthalmos, and lateral globe deviation OS on ophthalmic examination. Eleven months after initial presentation, there was complete resolution of the frontal bone lesion with mild thickening of the left calvarial bones on repeat skull CT. There was no exophthalmos or globe deviation present on clinical ophthalmic examination. The proliferative osteopathic lesion was self-resolving with resolution of the exophthalmos and has not recurred to date. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of calvarial hyperostosis in a previously unreported breed presenting as unilateral exophthalmos.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22192474/