Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cholangiocarcinoma linked to Platynosomum fastosum in cats
By Andrade, R L F S et al.·Published in Veterinary parasitology·2012·Veterinary Hospital, Brazil·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Platynosomum fastosum-induced cholangiocarcinomas in cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
Three cats were found to have liver tumors called cholangiocarcinomas, which were linked to an infection by a parasite known as Platynosomum fastosum. This parasite usually doesn’t cause noticeable symptoms, but in these cases, it led to serious health issues and ultimately death. The tumors were aggressive, with two of the cats showing signs of spreading to other organs like the lungs and kidneys. The findings suggest that this parasite can lead to cancer in cats, similar to effects seen in humans with related parasites.
People also search for: cat liver cancer symptoms · Platynosomum fastosum treatment · cat tumor causes · cholangiocarcinoma in cats · cat parasite liver disease
Abstract
Platynosomum fastosum is a feline biliary tract trematode that generally causes asymptomatic infections. In the early 1980s in Brazil, P. fastosum was associated with cholangiocarcinomas, but this finding was not confirmed in the various publications on the parasite during the last 30 years. This study aims to report three cases of cholangiocarcinomas in cats associated with the presence of P. fastosum. From 2000 to 2011, in the Veterinary Hospital of the Federal University of Campina Grande in northeast Brazil, 348 cats were necropsied, 11 of which (3.16%) were parasitized by P. fastosum. Three cases that resulted in death were associated with cholangiocarcinomas that were found to be associated with P. fastosum. Histologically, the tumors consisted of acini composed of cells with pleomorphic nuclei, loose chromatin, evident nucleoli and lightly eosinophilic cytoplasm. Metastases were observed in two cases. The first case involved metastases to the lungs, kidneys, ovary and peritoneum, and in the second case, the lymph nodes, kidneys, heart and encephalon were involved. The other 8 cats died from other causes, and the parasite was an incidental finding. In those cases, the histologic lesions were nonsuppurative cholangiohepatitis and periductal fibrosis with P. fastosum present. Six animals also showed pre-neoplastic changes (hyperplasia and dysplasia) of the biliary duct epithelium. The study concluded that, as observed in other human biliary tract trematodes, P. fastosum causes cholangiocarcinomas in the liver of cats.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22963714/