Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with oral melanoma and high calcium from tumor protein
By Pressler, Barrak M et al.·Published in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association·2002·Department of Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Hypercalcemia and high parathyroid hormone-related protein concentration associated with malignant melanoma in a dog.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 12-year-old Cocker Spaniel was brought to the vet because he was very tired and not eating. Tests showed he had high calcium levels in his blood, but no other tumors were found besides the oral malignant melanoma. Unfortunately, the cause of the high calcium couldn't be determined before he passed away, but it was linked to the melanoma. This case highlights that while paraneoplastic syndromes (conditions caused by cancer) are rare with this type of cancer, they can occur.
People also search for: dog lethargy and not eating · Cocker Spaniel melanoma treatment · high calcium in dogs causes
Abstract
A 12-year-old Cocker Spaniel with an oral malignant melanoma was evaluated for progressive lethargy and anorexia. No metastases were identified during antemortem evaluation, but severe hypercalcemia was evident. Antemortem diagnostic testing failed to identify a cause for the hypercalcemia. No neoplasms other than the melanoma were identified on postmortem examination. Serum parathyroid hormone-related protein concentration was markedly high, and the melanoma had moderate to marked immunostaining for this protein. Paraneoplastic syndromes are rare in dogs with malignant melanoma.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12118591/