Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Feline conjunctival melanoma signs and outcomes in 21 cats
By Schobert, Charles S et al.·Published in Veterinary ophthalmology·2010·Department of Pathobiological Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Feline conjunctival melanoma: histopathological characteristics and clinical outcomes.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 12-year-old neutered male cat was diagnosed with conjunctival melanoma, a type of eye tumor that can appear on the surface of the eye. The tumor was found on the bulbar conjunctiva and was pigmented. After treatment, some cats experienced local recurrence or metastasis, with survival times varying widely. Unfortunately, several cats had died by the time of the follow-up, indicating that this type of tumor can have a poor long-term outlook compared to similar tumors in dogs.
People also search for: cat eye tumor symptoms · feline conjunctival melanoma treatment · cat eye cancer prognosis
Abstract
PURPOSE: We report on the histopathology and clinical features of 21 cases of feline conjunctival melanoma. METHODS: A total of 18 cases are from the COPLOW collection and three cases from Antech Diagnostics. We tabulated the location of the tumor, pigmentation, cell shape, mitotic index and presence of multinucleated tumor cells. Surveys were sent to referring ophthalmologists to obtain further information about each case. RESULTS: The mean age of the cats was 12.4 years. A total of 11 cases were neutered males, six spayed females, and one each of intact female and male. Thirteen of the 21 cases were located on the bulbar conjunctiva, three on third eyelid only, three on palpebral conjunctiva. Sixteen tumors were pigmented while five were amelanotic. Seventeen of the cases consisted of round cell only while four cases were mixed populations of round and spindle cell. Fourteen of the cases contained multinucleated cells. The mitotic index ranged from 0 to 45 mitotic figures/10 HPF. Of the 13 cases with adequate follow-up information, four showed local recurrence while three reported metastasis. Eight cats had died at the time of the survey. Survival time post-diagnosis ranged from 0.5 to 36 months. Two cases had metastasized to the submandibular lymph nodes and in a third case, an abdominal mass was detected. CONCLUSIONS: Feline conjunctival melanoma is most frequently found on the bulbar conjunctiva, are mostly round cells and suggest that conjunctival melanoma in cats has a poorer long term prognosis than the same neoplasm in dogs.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20149175/