Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Rhabdomyosarcoma in 8 horses.
- Journal:
- Veterinary pathology
- Year:
- 2011
- Authors:
- Castleman, W L et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathology · United States
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
This report looks at eight horses diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of cancer that affects muscle tissue. In four of these horses, the tumors were located in the tongue and other areas of the mouth or head, while two were found in the abdominal wall, and one each in the shoulder muscles and heart. For the smaller tumors, measuring less than 10 centimeters, treatment involved surgery or radiation, and these horses did not experience any recurrence of the cancer. However, two larger tumors, over 10 centimeters, were deemed inoperable, leading to the difficult decision to euthanize those horses. Overall, the treatment was effective for the smaller tumors, but unfortunately, the larger ones resulted in euthanasia.
Abstract
This multi-institutional report describes 8 cases of rhabdomyosarcoma in horses. Four neoplasms were in the tongue and other areas of the mouth or head, 2 were in the abdominal wall, and 1 each was in right shoulder muscles and heart. Four rhabdomyosarcomas that were less than 10 cm in diameter were treated by surgical excision or radiation with no recurrence. Two neoplasms greater than 10 cm in diameter in the abdominal wall and the right shoulder were considered inoperable and led to decisions to euthanize the horses. Two neoplasms were incidental findings at necropsy. All the neoplasms were classified as embryonal except for 1 pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma. These 8 cases were evaluated with 9 published case reports of equine rhabdomyosarcoma. For all cases, the most common sites were limb muscles (5/17) and tongue (4/17). Metastasis was reported in 4 of the previously published cases; none was found in this study.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21262788/