Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cat with lung mass that was actually liver tissue on diaphragm
By Dhaliwal, Ravinder S & Lacey, Janice K·Published in Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association·2009·Department of Oncology, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Ectopic hepatic parenchyma attached to the diaphragm: simulating a pulmonary mass in a cat.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 9-year-old male cat was brought in for surgery because of a mass that appeared to be in his lungs. During the operation, the vet discovered that the mass was actually an unusual piece of liver tissue attached to the diaphragm, not a lung problem. This condition, called ectopic liver, can mimic a pulmonary mass on X-rays. Thankfully, the cat did not show any symptoms before the surgery, and after the mass was removed, he recovered well.
People also search for: cat lung mass · cat liver tissue · cat surgery recovery · why is my cat coughing · cat breathing problems
Abstract
A case of an ectopic lobe of the liver connected to a normal diaphragm is described. A 9-year-old, castrated male cat underwent thoracotomy for a pulmonary mass. The removed mass was attached to the diaphragm that histologically was ectopic liver. The ectopic liver had no connection with the main liver. Because the occurrence of ectopic supradiaphragmatic hepatic tissue is a possibility, this should be considered as a differential diagnosis for caudal pulmonary or caudal mediastinal masses in a cat. This report describes, to the authors' knowledge, the first case of ectopic hepatic tissue attached to the diaphragm of a cat. The authors also characterize the asymptomatic clinical presentation and radiographic findings of this cat and suggest further imaging with computed tomography in unusual case presentations.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19122063/