Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cat with wobbling and head tilt diagnosed with cerebellar lymphoma
By Yoshino, Yuka et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc·2017·Laboratory of Veterinary Pathology (Yoshino·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Primary cerebellar lymphoma with Hodgkin lymphoma-like morphology in a cat.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 4-year-old cat showed signs of wobbling, a right head tilt, and tremors, which led to an MRI that found a mass in the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls movement. Unfortunately, the cat passed away five months after the symptoms began. An autopsy revealed that the mass was a type of cancer called primary cerebellar lymphoma, which had characteristics similar to Hodgkin lymphoma. The cancer cells were linked to feline leukemia virus (FeLV), which can weaken a cat's immune system. Sadly, treatment options were not mentioned, and the cat did not survive.
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Abstract
A 4-y-old cat exhibited neurologic signs such as wobbling, right head tilt, and intention tremor, and MRI revealed a mass in the cerebellum. The cat died 5 mo after initial presentation, and no neoplastic lesions, other than the cerebellar mass, were observed at autopsy. Histologically, large atypical cells resembling Hodgkin cells, with single large inclusion-like nucleoli, and those resembling Reed-Sternberg cells, with symmetrically arranged nuclei, had infiltrated the left side of the cerebellum and were admixed with small lymphocytes. These atypical cells were positive for feline leukemia virus (FeLV), CD20, BLA36, vimentin, p16, p53, and Pax5, and negative for CD3, CD79a, and Iba1 by immunohistochemistry. Multiplex PCR for immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene rearrangement revealed monoclonal proliferation of B-lymphocytes. We describe this feline primary cerebellar B-cell lymphoma that displayed Hodgkin lymphoma-like tumor cells with FeLV protein expression.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28382853/