Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Histiocytic sarcoma of macrophage origin in a cat: case report with a literature review of feline histiocytic malignancies and comparison with canine hemophagocytic histiocytic sarcoma.
- Journal:
- Veterinary clinical pathology
- Year:
- 2008
- Authors:
- Friedrichs, Kristen R & Young, Karen M
- Affiliation:
- Department of Pathobiological Sciences · United States
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 9-year-old neutered male domestic shorthair cat was found to have mild anemia during a routine check-up. Over the next eight months, the anemia worsened and the cat developed low platelet counts. An ultrasound showed that the cat's spleen was enlarged, and there were also signs of liver enlargement and swollen lymph nodes in the abdomen. Tests on samples from the spleen showed abnormal cells that were eating red blood cells and other blood components. Further examination confirmed that the cat had a type of cancer called histiocytic sarcoma, which is linked to certain immune cells. This case is notable because it is the first documented instance of this type of cancer in a cat.
Abstract
Mild nonregenerative anemia was detected in a 9-year-old neutered male domestic shorthair cat during a routine examination. Bone marrow core biopsy revealed erythroid hyperplasia; however, a specific cause was not identified. Over the next 8 months the anemia progressed, eventually becoming mildly regenerative, and moderate thrombocytopenia developed. On ultrasonographic examination, marked splenomegaly, mild hepatomegaly, and abdominal lymphadenopathy were found. Cytologic evaluation of splenic aspirates revealed increased numbers of mildly to moderately pleomorphic histiocytes that frequently had phagocytosed RBCs, leukocytes, and occasionally platelets. Histopathologic examination of the spleen and liver revealed effacement of splenic architecture by a histiocytic sarcoma (HS), and neoplastic histiocytes in hepatic sinusoids. A second bone marrow aspirate revealed neoplastic infiltration by similar cells. The histiocytes in all tissues were mildly to moderately pleomorphic and markedly erythrophagocytic. The immunophenotype of histiocytes in the spleen was CD1c(-)/CD11b(+)/CD18(+)/MHC-II(+), supporting a macrophage cell lineage. The clinical, pathologic, and immunophenotypic findings in this cat were similar to those in hemophagocytic HSs in dogs. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a HS of purported macrophage phenotype in a cat.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18366555/