Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Case Report: Pansteatitis with sterile nodular panniculitis (SNP) in a dog
- Journal:
- Frontiers in Veterinary Science
- Year:
- 2026
- Authors:
- Jihee Han et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Veterinary Internal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Chungnam University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea · CH
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 3-year-old male Jindo dog was brought to the vet because he had a fever, was very tired, had stopped eating, and was experiencing abdominal pain for five days. The vet found several lumps under his skin, and tests like ultrasound and CT scans showed many nodules in his abdomen and fat tissue. A biopsy confirmed that he had a condition called sterile nodular panniculitis (SNP), which is inflammation of the fat tissue, along with pansteatitis, which is inflammation of the fat itself, but no infections were found. The dog was treated with glucocorticoids, a type of steroid, and after four months, follow-up scans showed significant improvement, with only a few nodules left. Since the dog was doing well and had no symptoms, the treatment was stopped, and there have been no signs of the problem coming back.
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://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2026.1681878