Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Brain tumor causing head tilt and listlessness in a fantail pigeon
By Hooper, Celia C·Published in Avian pathology : journal of the W.V.P.A·2008·Gribbles Veterinary Pathology, Australia·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Teratoma in the cerebrum of a fantail pigeon.
- Species:
- bird
Plain-English summary
A 1-year-old fantail pigeon was brought in because it suddenly became listless and had a noticeable head tilt to the right. After examination, the vet discovered a teratoma, which is a type of tumor containing different types of tissue, in the bird's brain. The tumor was not encapsulated and included various tissues like fat and cartilage. Unfortunately, the specific treatment for this type of tumor in pigeons is not well established, and the outcome for this bird was not detailed in the report.
People also search for: pigeon head tilt causes · fantail pigeon brain tumor · why is my pigeon listless
Abstract
This is the first report of a primary teratoma in the cerebral cortex of a 1-year-old fantail pigeon and one of the few reports of intracranial teratomas in birds. The clinical signs were sudden onset of listlessness and a head tilt to the right. The right cerebral hemisphere contained an unencapsulated teratoma that included adipose, cartilaginous, fibrous and undifferentiated mesenchymal tissue as well as keratinized and glandular epithelial structures. Immunohistochemistry designed for mammals proved very useful and has been used to investigate the two germ cell lines, epithelial and mesenchymal, detected in the neoplasm. Indirect immunohistochemistry testing using vimentin, pancytokeratin, smooth muscle actin, neuron-specific enolase, and S-100 was done. Vimentin, smooth muscle actin and pancytokeratin immunoreactivity was strong. Neuron-specific enolase immunoreactivity was strongly positive in the normal brain adjacent to the neoplasm but there was no immunoreactivity within the neoplasm. Also, there was no S-100 immunoreactivity, suggesting that the mammalian proteins on which the immunohistochemistry is based are not present in pigeons.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18393091/