Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Horse with fever and collapse - could it be cancer?
By East, L M et al.·Published in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association·1998·Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Occult osseous metastasis of a colonic adenocarcinoma visualized with technetium tc 99m hydroxymethylene diphosphate scintigraphy in a horse.
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
A 5-year-old Arabian horse was brought in after experiencing fever, loss of appetite, lethargy, and sudden collapse over the past five days. Despite a thorough examination, the vet found only a heart murmur and some abdominal discomfort. Initial treatments didn't help, and advanced imaging revealed a serious issue: a biopsy showed the horse had widespread cancer originating from the colon that had spread to bones and other organs. Sadly, the horse was euthanized due to the severity of the condition.
People also search for: horse fever loss of appetite · Arabian horse collapse · horse cancer treatment options
Abstract
A 5-year-old Arabian horse was admitted with a 5-day history of undulant pyrexia of unknown origin, inappetence, obtundation, and acute collapse. Physical examination results were unremarkable except for a grade II/VI left-sided systolic cardiac murmur and abdominal splinting. Mild chronic inflammatory changes were evident on clinicopathologic evaluation. Echocardiography revealed moderate aortic insufficiency. A solitary soft tissue opacity was found on thoracic radiography but not on ultrasonography. Palliative treatment was ineffective. Nuclear scintigraphy with WBC labeled with technetium Tc 99m hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime did not identify abnormalities, but a second nuclear scan with technetium Tc 99m hydroxymethylene diphosphate identified polyostotic disease. Examination of a biopsy specimen from an affected rib revealed disseminated adenocarcinoma. The horse was euthanatized. Necropsy and histologic examination revealed a colonic adenocarcinoma with osseous metaplasia that had disseminated to multiple parenchymal organs, muscle, and bone.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9787386/