REBECCA ALLAN A recent case through the laboratory highlighted the challenges when diagnosing hypoadrenocorticism and in differentiating the typical from atypical form of the disease. Hypoadrenocorticism or Addison’s disease is an uncommon endocrinopathy that occurs when there is destruction or atrophy of layers of the adrenal cortex. The most common form is when both the […]
CATHY HARVEY & REBECCA ALLAN Clinical history: Buddy, a 4-year-old neutered male Border Collie presented with lethargy and an in-house PCV of 12%. There was no free blood in the abdomen and the spleen was normal. He had progressive pancytopenia without regeneration, a single dose of dexamethasone and two blood transfusions, before bone marrow samples […]
KATHRYN JENKINS A recent interesting case highlighted the issue of a lesion which can mimic the clinical appearance of a benign lipoma. Clinical history: A 10-year-old dog presented with a 7 cm diameter mass located on the upper forelimb, which had been slowly growing over the last 4-6 months. The mass palpated like a lipoma, […]
AMY WEEDEN You may have noticed the terms “urothelial cell” or “urothelium” being used in urinalysis, cytology, or histology reports over the last several years. There has been a shift in human medicine and, later, in veterinary medicine from the use of transitional epithelium to urothelium to describe the specialized stretchy epithelial tissue that lines […]
BERNIE VAATSTRA A 12-year-old female neutered Domestic Short-hair cat developed a raised, crusted, circular lesion on the right upper lip. The lesion was pruritic and did not respond to treatment with glucocorticoids. An incisional biopsy was submitted for histopathology. Histopathology findings: The epidermis was focally ulcerated and crusted (Figure 1). The dermis was infiltrated by […]
JOHN GILL Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is a sporadic disease of cattle and deer, caused by the sheep-associated virus (ovine herpesvirus 2). MCF is passed to cattle and deer by carrier hoggets and lambs, but affected cattle and deer do not transmit MCF to their cohorts. The incubation period can be several months. The following […]
SANDY WELTAN Clinical history: Three smears were received from skin scrapings from cattle with diffuse skin lesions. The lesions were widely distributed but were particularly severe on the white areas of the skin (Figure 1). Laboratory findings: On cytology, the cellularity was high in all the smears and consisted of keratinocytes in a background of […]
LISA HULME-MOIR This recent case highlights the importance of blood film examinations and illustrates how diagnoses may be missed if relying on in-clinic analyser counts alone. Clinical history: A blood sample from a 9-year-old male Labrador cross was submitted for blood film examination after presenting lethargic, off his food and with a temperature of 40.5°C. […]
SUNAO FUJITA Clinical history: A 16-year-old, thoroughbred gelding presented with a slow growing mass in the left ventral thoracic/axillar region, extending into deep tissue (Figure 1). The mass was firm and non-mobile and had been present for six months, but had not changed in size. Cytology: The smears were of high cellularity, predominantly composed of […]
CRISTINA GANS Clinical history: A five-year-old, female Rottweiler/ Labrador cross presented for a routine ovariohysterectomy. During the surgery a 5cm mass was identified in the left ovary. The entire uterus and both ovaries were submitted for histopathology. Post-mortem findings: After formalin fixation of the tissue, incision into the ovarian mass, revealed a mixture of tissues […]