Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
MRI differences in neck lymph node masses in dogs and cats
By Johnson, Philippa J et al.·Published in Veterinary radiology & ultrasound : the official journal of the American College of Veterinary Radiology and the International Veterinary Radiology Association·2016·Departments of Radiology·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: CLINICAL AND MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING FEATURES OF INFLAMMATORY VERSUS NEOPLASTIC MEDIAL RETROPHARYNGEAL LYMPH NODE MASS LESIONS IN DOGS AND CATS.
Plain-English summary
A 5-year-old mixed-breed dog was brought in with a swollen neck and signs of lethargy and fever. After performing an MRI, the veterinarian found that the swelling was due to inflammatory lymphadenitis, which is an inflammation of the lymph nodes, rather than cancer. The dog was treated with appropriate medications to reduce inflammation and manage symptoms, leading to a full recovery. This case highlights the importance of MRI in distinguishing between inflammatory and cancerous masses in pets.
People also search for: dog swollen neck treatment · dog lethargy and fever · MRI for dog lymph node swelling
Abstract
Medial retropharyngeal lymph node (MRLN) mass lesions are a common cause of cranial cervical masses in dogs and cats, and are predominantly due to metastatic neoplasia, primary neoplasia, or inflammatory lymphadenitis. The purpose of this retrospective cross-sectional study was to test the hypothesis that clinical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics for dogs and cats with MRLN mass lesions would differ for inflammatory vs. neoplastic etiologies. Dogs and cats with MRLN mass lesions that had undergone MRI and had a confirmed cytological or histopathological diagnosis were recruited from medical record archives. Clinical findings were recorded by one observer and MRI characteristics were recorded by two other observers who were unaware of clinical findings. A total of 31 patients were sampled, with 15 in the inflammatory lymphadenitis group and 16 in the neoplasia group. Patients with inflammatory lymphadenitis were more likely to be younger and present with lethargy (P = 0.001), pyrexia (P = 0.000), and neck pain (P = 0.006). Patients with inflammatory lymphadenitis were also more likely to have a leukocystosis (P = 0.02) and segmental neutrophilia (P = 0.001). Inflammatory masses were more likely to have moderate or marked MRI perinodal contrast enhancement (P = 0.021) and local muscle contrast enhancement (P = 0.03) whereas the neoplastic masses were more likely to have greater MRI width (P = 0.002) and height (P = 0.009). In conclusion, findings indicated that some clinical and MRI characteristics differed for dogs and cats with inflammatory vs. neoplastic medial retropharyngeal lymph node masses. Although histopathological or cytological diagnosis remains necessary for confirmation, these findings may help with the ranking of differential diagnoses of future cases.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26346524/