Intestinal acinar adenocarcinoma in a blue-fronted Amazon parrot (Amazona aestiva).

Abstract

A 54-year-old captive male blue-fronted Amazon parrot (Amazona aestiva) was presented with progressive weight loss, diarrhoea and dyspnoea. Contrast radiographs suggested a neoplastic process by revealing an opaque soft tissue mass occupying most of the coelomic cavity. Post-mortem findings included approximately 80 ml of serous ascitic fluid. The intestines had a diffuse firm consistency, and the serosal surface was covered by multifocal to coalescent, irregularly shaped, white to off-white elevated plaques and nodules, which obscured visualization of the pancreas. Histologically, there was a neoplastic epithelial cell proliferation that extended to the intestine and pancreatic parenchyma. The cells were arranged in acini associated with mild cytoplasmic and extracellular mucin. The neoplastic cells had diffuse immunoreactivity for pancytokeratin, and both intra- and extracellular mucin stained deeply with Alcian blue. Clinical and pathological findings indicated a diagnosis of intestinal acinar adenocarcinoma.