Combined excision and intralesional bevacizumab for sebaceous carcinoma of the eyelid in an Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica)

Abstract

An 18-year-old zoo-kept female Amur tiger presented with an approximately 5 mm diameter lateral canthal eyelid mass in the left eye which grossly appeared red and irregular. The mass was completely excised via lateral canthoplasty. Histopathologic evaluation was consistent with a diagnosis of sebaceous cell carcinoma, which is a potentially aggressive cutaneous neoplasm. The sebaceous carcinoma recurred within 3 months and slowly increased in size until a second surgical excision was performed 9 months following the first surgery. The second surgical excision was combined with intralesional injection of 10 mg of the antiangiogenic drug bevacizumab. Histology confirmed the diagnosis. The tiger was euthanized 16 months postoperatively for reasons unrelated to, and without recurrence of, the eyelid neoplasm. At postmortem, no gross periocular or metastatic lesions were noted, and histopathology of the lateral canthus provided no evidence of recurrence. Surgical excision combined with intralesional bevacizumab treatment induced life-long resolution of the sebaceous carcinoma. Bevacizumab treatment may be associated with the regression of periocular angiogenic proliferative conditions, including neoplasia, by inhibiting angiogenesis.

Intralesional bevacizumab as in‐add adjuvant to immunocryosurgery for locally advanced basal cell carcinoma

“…To the best of authors' knowledge, our data are the first report of the addition of intralesional bevacizumab to the treatment scheme of a malignant skin tumour in the human setting. Thus far, this modality has been reported only once as an adjuvant to the surgical treatment of a non‐melanoma skin cancer in the veterinary setting, an eyelid sebaceous carcinoma of an Amur tiger ( Panthera tigris altaica ) . Concerning the feasibility and effectiveness of the addition of intralesional bevacizumab to the standard immunocryosurgery approach for advanced BCC, our present results although promising, are still preliminary.…”

Topical bevacizumab for the treatment of corneal vascularization in dogs: A case series

“…Bevacizumab was developed and approved for the treatment of various neoplastic conditions 16 . In veterinary medicine, an Amur tiger with a palpebral sebaceous gland carcinoma was successfully treated with intralesional bevacizumab as an adjuvant to surgery 65 . At the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, an Appaloosa mare suffering from a corneal stromal invasive squamous cell carcinoma has been treated surgically and adjuvantly with topical mitomycin C, systemic firocoxib, and intrastromal bevacizumab (K.‐O.…”

Prevalence and type of ocular disease in a population of aged captive nondomestic felids

“…Many previous studies on ocular diseases in nondomestic felids have been primarily case reports or were focused on one species and/or one disease process. There are several reports on congenital/hereditary ocular diseases, 39–46 lenticular diseases, 25,26,28–30,32 glaucoma, 37,38 and ocular/periocular neoplasias, 16,47 among others. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of the prevalence and type of ocular disease in a population of aged captive nondomestic felids.…”

“…Between the two studies, 541 felids were examined, and no ocular or adnexal neoplasias were noted. There are, however, three individual case reports in the literature of ocular or adnexal neoplasia in nondomestic felids: a sebaceous carcinoma of the eyelid in an Amur tiger, 47 a corneal squamous cell carcinoma in a cheetah, 85 and ocular melanoma in an African lion with mammary mucinous carcinoma 16 …”