Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Kitten's gum tumor caused high blood sugar that cleared after surgery
By Padgett, S L et al.·Published in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association·1997·Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Gingival vascular hamartoma with associated paraneoplastic hyperglycemia in a kitten.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 4-month-old domestic shorthair kitten was brought to the vet because of a growth on her gums that came back after surgery. She also had high blood sugar levels that didn't improve with insulin treatment. X-rays showed damage to her jawbone and loose teeth. The vet performed surgery to remove the gum mass, which turned out to be a type of benign growth called a gingival vascular hamartoma. Remarkably, her high blood sugar levels returned to normal within 24 hours after the surgery, suggesting that the mass was causing the problem.
People also search for: kitten gum growth · high blood sugar in cats · gingival mass surgery cat
Abstract
A 4-month-old domestic shorthair cat was examined because of a maxillary gingival mass that had regrown following excisional biopsy. The kitten also had a history of persistently high blood glucose concentrations, despite 2 weeks of insulin treatment. Radiography revealed maxillary alveolar bone lysis and displacement of multiple teeth. Partial maxillectomy was performed to remove the mass, which histologically was a gingival vascular hamartoma. Hyperglycemia permanently resolved < 24 hours after mass removal. On the basis of the temporal relationship between mass removal and resolution of hyperglycemia, as well as the lack of evidence of any concurrent disease, hyperglycemia in this cat was considered to be a paraneoplastic syndrome.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9096719/