Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma with heterotopic ossification, lymphovascular invasion, and nodal and pulmonary metastases in a 23-year-old Morgan gelding.
- Journal:
- The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne
- Year:
- 2023
- Authors:
- Townsend, Kile S et al.
- Affiliation:
- University of Missouri · United States
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
This report discusses a 23-year-old Morgan gelding that was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, a type of cancer that can occur in the skin and lining of the mouth and throat. Although this type of cancer is common in horses, it is unusual for it to spread to the lungs, which happened in this case. The horse showed signs that could be confused with other lung diseases, making it difficult to identify the cancer right away. Additionally, the horse had a rare condition where bone tissue formed in an unusual place due to the cancer. Unfortunately, despite the findings, the exact starting point of the cancer could not be determined, and the outcome was not favorable.
Abstract
Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck occurs in the skin or squamous epithelial lining tissues of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, and sinonasal tract. Although it is a common tumor in horses, distant metastatic spread to the lung is rare. This report describes a case of metastatic pulmonary squamous cell carcinoma in a 23-year-old Morgan gelding. The clinical signs displayed by this gelding in some ways mimicked the typical presentation of equine multinodular pulmonary fibrosis or thoracic lymphoma. The postmortem diagnosis in this case was head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, but a primary site of origin could not be ascertained. Cancer-associated heterotopic ossification (HO) was also identified in this case; this is an exceedingly rare finding with equine pulmonary neoplasia. Key clinical message: Careful physical examination should be undertaken in all horses presenting with clinical signs of intrathoracic disease. Clinical and radiographic abnormalities in this case of pulmonary metastatic disease resembled some of those associated with interstitial pneumonia. Rarely encountered in domestic animal species, there has been only 1 previous report of HO in a case of oronasal carcinoma in a horse.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37397690/