Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with worsening hind leg weakness linked to systemic mast cell
By Tyrrell, D & Davis, R M·Published in Australian veterinary journal·2001·Department of Veterinary Clinic and Hospital, Australia·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Progressive neurological signs associated with systemic mastocytosis in a dog.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 9-year-old dog was brought in with symptoms like severe weakness in the back legs, anemia, low platelet counts, and diarrhea. The vet found a skin tumor called a mast cell tumor and removed it along with an enlarged lymph node. Unfortunately, the dog's neurological condition worsened, leading to euthanasia. A post-mortem examination revealed that the mast cells had spread to the spinal cord, which is an unusual and serious complication of mast cell tumors.
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Abstract
A 9-year-old dog was presented with nonregenerative anaemia and severe thrombocytopenia, diarrhoea, spinal hyperalgesia and progressive hindlimb paresis. A moderately well differentiated cutaneous mast cell tumour (MCT) was removed from the skin of the right elbow along with the enlarged right prescapular lymph node. Due to deterioration of the dog's neurological condition, euthanasia was performed. On necropsy examination, haemorrhage and accumulations of poorly differentiated mast cells were found in the lumbosacral region and cauda equina. This article describes an unusual presentation of systemic mastocytosis and the previously unreported finding of metastasis of mast cells to the spinal cord.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11256278/