Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Occult osseous metastasis of a colonic adenocarcinoma visualized with technetium tc 99m hydroxymethylene diphosphate scintigraphy in a horse.
- Journal:
- Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
- Year:
- 1998
- Authors:
- East, L M et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences · United States
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
A 5-year-old Arabian horse was brought in after having a fever for five days, eating less than usual, being very tired, and suddenly collapsing. The vet found a heart murmur and some signs of inflammation, but other tests didn’t show clear problems at first. An ultrasound didn’t reveal much, but a special scan eventually showed that the horse had cancer that had spread to the bones. Despite attempts to provide comfort, the horse was euthanized, and further examination confirmed that the cancer had spread to several organs and tissues.
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: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9787386/