Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Food intolerance mimicking alimentary lymphosarcoma.
- Journal:
- Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association
- Year:
- 1995
- Authors:
- Wasmer, M L et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery · United States
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A cat was experiencing ongoing diarrhea and was initially diagnosed with a type of cancer called duodenal lymphosarcoma after two different sets of tissue samples were taken. The treatment with a medication called prednisolone did not help the cat feel better. However, when the cat was switched to a special hypoallergenic diet, its symptoms completely went away for six months. This case highlights how sometimes a serious condition can be misdiagnosed, and in this instance, what seemed like cancer was actually a food intolerance issue. The treatment with the hypoallergenic diet worked well for the cat.
Abstract
A cat with chronic diarrhea was diagnosed as having duodenal lymphosarcoma on two separate sets of endoscopic biopsies. Prednisolone failed to effect any clinical improvement. However, feeding the cat with a hypoallergenic diet resulted in long-term (i.e., six months) resolution of clinical signs. Most clinicians are familiar with the possibility of mistakenly diagnosing inflammatory bowel disease when the patient has lymphosarcoma; however, this case had the opposite problem: lymphosarcoma was diagnosed histologically on two separate occasions when inflammatory bowel disease was the problem.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8581539/