Co-existing squamous cell carcinoma and hemangioma on the ocular surface of a cat

Abstract

A 14-year-old spayed female domestic short-haired cat was presented for evaluation of a mass in the right eye. Ophthalmic examination revealed a blind right eye and presence of two distinct masses: a pink and a red-to-brown mass, the latter occupying most of the cornea and part of the conjunctiva. Exenteration was performed under general anesthesia, and the ocular tissues were processed routinely for histopathology. Upon microscopic examination, a malignant epithelial neoplasm and a benign vascular neoplasm were present in the cornea. The conjunctiva and the third eyelid were also affected. Upon immunohistochemistry, the epithelial tumor was positive for cytokeratin and negative for vimentin and the endothelial tumor was negative for cytokeratin and positive for vimentin. A diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and hemangioma was made. The SCC was affecting the cornea, bulbar conjunctiva (lateral and inferior) and the base of the third eyelid, whereas the hemangioma was affecting the cornea and medial limbus. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of concomitant SCC and hemangioma affecting the ocular surface in a cat.

Corneal hemangiosarcoma in a cat

“…Tumors of vascular origin, including hemangiomas and hemangiosarcomas, seem particularly rare since the cornea is avascular. A case of feline corneal hemangioma co‐existing with squamous cell carcinoma was recently published, 2 while canine corneal 14 or corneoscleral 1 hemangiomas and hemangiosarcomas have been reported but without details on whether they arose as primary or secondary neoplastic processes. To our knowledge only one case of canine primary corneal hemangiosarcoma has been documented in the recent literature.…”

“…Conjunctival vascular neoplasms that involve the cornea secondarily have been reported in horses 1,14,16 . In cats, no report of primary corneal tumor, other than the aforementioned case of corneal collision tumor 2 can be found in the literature.…”

“…Several cases of feline corneal tumors resulting from extension of ocular or periocular tumors can be found in the literature. They include squamous cell carcinoma, limbal melanoma, and corneoscleral extension of intraocular neoplasms such as lymphoma, anterior uveal melanoma, or post‐traumatic ocular sarcoma 1–8 . There is only one recent report of a primary feline corneal neoplasm, which described the combination of squamous cell carcinoma and hemangioma in the cornea of a 14‐year‐old cat 2 …”

“…They include squamous cell carcinoma, limbal melanoma, and corneoscleral extension of intraocular neoplasms such as lymphoma, anterior uveal melanoma, or post-traumatic ocular sarcoma. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] There is only one recent report of a primary feline corneal neoplasm, which described the combination of squamous cell carcinoma and hemangioma in the cornea of a 14-year-old cat. 2 The present report details the clinicopathologic findings in a case of primary corneal hemangiosarcoma in a cat, which is to the best of our knowledge the first report of this neoplasm in the feline cornea.…”

Corneolimbal squamous cell carcinoma with intraocular invasion in two cats

“…The term ‘corneolimbal squamous cell carcinoma’ has been previously used and is a descriptive term adopted in the current report to denote location but suggests the neoplasm has originated at the limbus and extended over the cornea as opposed to originating from the corneal epithelium itself. A squamous cell carcinoma in conjunction with a hemangioma has been described affecting the cornea, bulbar conjunctiva and third eyelid of a cat but to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first case report of feline corneolimbal SCC.…”