A seven-year-old female Chinchilla cat and a 13-year-old male Cocker Spaniel were presented to Dick White Referrals for respiratory difficulties and cough, respectively. Based on radiographic and CT findings, including the midline location of the lesion and its mass effect on mediastinal structures, a caudodorsal mediastinal mass was considered more likely than a pulmonary origin in both cases. However, further investigations in the form of thoracic ultrasound and ultrasound-guided fine needle aspirates in the first case and histopathology in the second, revealed the presence of an accessory lobe pulmonary carcinoma in both cases. Retrospective review of these cases allowed identification of CT features that can be used to distinguish mediastinal and accessory lung lobe masses in future cases, including absence of part or all of the accessory lobe and its lobar bronchus, presence of gas in the lesion and the shape of the lesion mimicking a lung lobe.
Background: There is a lack of information regarding magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of polyostotic vertebral lesions in dogs. The aim of this retrospective study was to identify and differenciate low‐field MRI features of aggressive versus benign multifocal vertebral diseases in dogs. Methods: MRI examinations from 49 dogs with polyostotic vertebral lesions were reviewed. Images were evaluated for vertebral intensity changes, expansile lesions, new bone formation, cortical bone interruption, paravertebral musculature changes, lymphadenomegaly, spinal cord compression and spinal cord signal changes. Results: Twenty‐nine dogs with non‐aggressive bone lesions and 20 dogs with aggressive vertebral lesions were included. Non‐aggressive lesions had variable T2‐weighted fast spin‐echo (T2W) signal intensity and the majority displayed low signal intensity on short tau inversion recovery (STIR). Aggressive lesions predominantly had high T2W and STIR signal intensity, with variable signal intensity on T1‐weighted spin‐echo and contrast enhancement. Aggressive lesions were associated with spinal pain (p < 0.01), new bone formation (p = 0.02), spinal cord compression (p < 0.01) and lymphadenomegaly (p < 0.01). Cortical interruption (p < 0.01) and paravertebral musculature changes (p < 0.01) were the strongest indicative imaging features for aggressive lesions. Conclusion: Spinal pain, spinal cord compression, new bone formation, lymphadenomegaly and especially cortical interruption and paravertebral musculature signal intensity changes were the best discriminators for differentiating malignant from benign vertebral lesions.
This case report describes the clinical presentation, diagnostic findings, treatment and outcome in a dog diagnosed with diffuse cryptococcosis with involvement of the central nervous system (CNS). This represents the fourth case of cryptococcosis with CNS involvement in dogs described in the UK. The dog presented with signs of multifocal brain disorder; investigations, including magnetic resonance imaging, cerebrospinal fluid analysis and serology, revealed cryptococcosis. As previously reported, despite treatment, in our case the outcome was extremely poor. Cryptococcosis is an opportunistic fungal disease distributed worldwide, which in dogs often causes disseminated disease with multi-organ involvement. Despite being rare in the UK, CNS cryptococcosis should be included as a possible differential diagnosis in healthy young to middle-aged dogs presenting with signs of diffuse, progressive central nervous system disease.
Thoracic radiography is commonly used to assess the size of the heart and diagnose cardiac disease in ferrets. Several standardized radiographic heart size indicators have been introduced in this species and values in healthy ferrets have been reported. To date, none of these indicators has been tested in ferrets with cardiac disease. The aim of this prospective and retrospective, analytical observational design study was to assess the accuracy of the modified vertebral heart score (mVHS) and the cardiovertebral ratio (CVR) in the radiographic detection of cardiomegaly in ferrets. Thoracic radiographs of 24 ferrets with confirmed heart diseases, 22 ferrets with non-cardiac diseases and normal-sized hearts on echocardiogram, and 24 healthy ferrets were mixed and examined by three independent and blinded radiologists who measured mVHS and CVR in right lateral (RL) and ventrodorsal (VD) radiographs. For all readers, ferrets with cardiac disease had significantly higher mVHS and CVR than ferrets without cardiac disease on echocardiography. Optimal cut-points for predicting cardiac enlargement were 6.25 vertebrae and 7.25 vertebrae for RL-mVHS and VD-mVHS, and 1.58 and 1.80 for RL-CVR and VD-CVR, respectively. Using these cut-points, the accuracy was good for indicators measured in RL radiographs (92.9% for RL-mVHS; 91.4% for RL-CVR) and moderate for indicators measured in VD radiographs (88.6% for VD-mVHS; 85.7% for VD-CVR). Findings supported the use of mVHS and CVR for evaluating the size of the heart in diseased ferrets, with caution in values interpretation when pericardial fat prevents precise delineation of the cardiac silhouette contour especially on VD radiographs.
An 8‐year‐old female‐spayed Great Dane was referred for further investigation of a 1‐month history of stiff gait, pain on palpation of the limbs, weight loss and pyrexia. Investigations revealed a generalized soft tissue swelling along the long axis of the forelimbs and to a smaller extent on the hindlimbs. CT identified a mixed osteolytic and osteoproliferative mass originating from the second right rib. CT also showed characteristic features of hypertrophic osteopathy along the forelimbs and proximal hindlimbs. Cytology of the rib mass was consistent with an aggressive sarcoma. To the authors’ knowledge, this is only the second documented case of hypertrophic osteopathy associated with rib sarcoma without evidence of lung metastasis.
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