Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Gastrointestinal eosinophilic sclerosing fibroplasia in 60 cats signs
By Černá, Petra et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2024·Department of Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Clinicopathological findings, treatment, and outcome in 60 cats with gastrointestinal eosinophilic sclerosing fibroplasia.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 5-year-old Ragdoll cat was brought in for chronic vomiting, weight loss, and lack of appetite over the past three months. The vet diagnosed the cat with gastrointestinal eosinophilic sclerosing fibroplasia (GESF), a condition that can cause masses in the digestive tract. Treatment included surgery to remove the mass in some cases and corticosteroids for all affected cats. Remarkably, 88% of the cats treated were still alive at the time of the study, indicating a good prognosis for this condition.
People also search for: cat vomiting weight loss · Ragdoll cat gastrointestinal issues · eosinophilic sclerosing fibroplasia treatment
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Gastrointestinal eosinophilic sclerosing fibroplasia (GESF) in cats presents as mass(es) associated with the gastrointestinal tract, mesentery, and abdominal lymph nodes. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES: To report the clinicopathological findings, treatment, and outcome of cats with GESF. ANIMALS: Sixty client-owned cats diagnosed with GESF. METHODS: Retrospective review of medical records of cats with histopathologically confirmed GESF. RESULTS: The median age was 5.4 years (interquartile range [IQR], 3.3-8.9.); 30% were Domestic Shorthairs and 12% were Domestic Longhair cats, with the most prevalent pedigree breeds being Ragdolls (25%), Exotic Shorthair (10%) and Persian (8%) cats. The median duration of clinical signs was 90 days (IQR, 17.5-247.0); the most common clinical signs were weight loss (60%), hyporexia/anorexia (55%), chronic vomiting (37%), lethargy (35%) and chronic diarrhea (27%). Masses were located in the small intestine (32%), stomach (27%), ileocolic junction (15%), colon (10%), lymph node (8%) and mesentery (8%) and 15% of cats had >1 mass. Eosinophilia was present in 50% and hypoalbuminemia in 28% of cats. The mass was removed surgically in 37% of cases. Most cats (98%) were treated with corticosteroids. Survival was not statistically different between cats treated with surgical resection and cats treated with medical therapy alone, 88% of the cats were still alive at the time of writing. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: GESF is an important differential diagnosis for abdominal masses in cats, and has a much better prognosis than previously reported.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38205893/