Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Case Report: Pansteatitis with sterile nodular panniculitis (SNP) in a dog.
- Journal:
- Frontiers in veterinary science
- Year:
- 2026
- Authors:
- Han, Jihee et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Veterinary Internal Medicine · South Korea
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 3-year-old male Jindo dog was brought to the vet after being very tired, having a fever, not eating, and showing signs of abdominal pain for five days. The vet found several lumps under the skin and used imaging tests to discover more lumps inside the abdomen. A closer look at the tissue confirmed that the dog had a condition called sterile nodular panniculitis (a type of inflammation in the fat layer) and pansteatitis (inflammation of the fat tissue), but no infections were found. The dog was treated with glucocorticoids (a type of steroid), and after four months, follow-up tests showed significant improvement, with only a few lumps left. Since the dog was doing well and had no symptoms, the medication was stopped, and there have been no signs of the problem returning.
Abstract
A 3-year-old, castrated male Jindo dog presented with a 5-day history of pyrexia, lethargy, anorexia, and abdominal pain. Physical examination revealed multiple subcutaneous nodules, and abdominal ultrasonography showed numerous intra-abdominal nodules. Computed tomography (CT) identified widespread subcutaneous fatty nodules with fat stranding and multiple poorly defined nodular lesions within the abdominal fat. Histopathological examination confirmed panniculitis and steatitis, with no infectious agents identified. Based on these findings, a final diagnosis of sterile nodular panniculitis (SNP) and pansteatitis was made, and the dog was treated with glucocorticoids. Follow-up CT performed 4 months after the initiation of therapy showed marked improvement in the subcutaneous nodules, with only a few residual intra-abdominal lesions remaining. As the dog remained clinically asymptomatic, glucocorticoid therapy was discontinued. At the time of writing, no clinical recurrence had been observed. This is the first reported case in which sterile nodular panniculitis and pansteatitis were diagnosed and treated using minimally invasive approaches, including whole-body computed tomography and laparoscopic biopsy.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41800301/