Cytological Diagnosis of Gastric Neuroendocrine Carcinoma in a Pet Inland Bearded Dragon (Pogona Vitticeps)

Pathology in Practice

“…Bloodwork abnormalities associated with these tumors in bearded dragons have consistently shown anemia, hyperglycemia, or both. 2,3,5 The marked hyperglycemia observed in this patient was comparable to that previously reported, 2,4 including glucose concentrations of 50, 54, and 90 mmol/L. Marked hyperglycemia in young bearded dragons has few causes.…”

“…Several bearded dragons also exhibited metastasis to other organs such as kidney, intestine, pancreas, heart, spleen, lung, and oviduct. 2,4 Variable positive expression of somatostatin in NE carcinomas in bearded dragons has been previously reported [2][3][4][5] and was present in this case in rare scattered tumor cells. In humans, somatostatin has been reported to suppress insulin, 6 glucagon, 7 pancreatic peptides, 8 gastrin, gastric acid secretion, gastric motility, intestinal absorption, and gall bladder contraction.…”

“…A syndrome of hyperglycemia associated with gastric NE carcinomas in young bearded dragons has emerged over the past decade. [2][3][4][5] In all reported cases, gross and histologic examination revealed primary NE carcinoma in the gastric submucosa with metastasis primarily to the liver similar to this case. Several bearded dragons also exhibited metastasis to other organs such as kidney, intestine, pancreas, heart, spleen, lung, and oviduct.…”

“…Gastrointestinal disturbances, such as vomiting, have also been reported. 2,5 Clinicopathologic abnormalities have included anemia, 2,3,5 hyperglycemia, 2,4,5 heterophilic leukocytosis with a left shift, monocytosis, [3][4][5] and lymphopenia. 5 The clinical signs and clinicopathologic abnormalities highlighted in the present report were strikingly similar to previous reports in bearded dragons.…”

Metastatic Cholangiocarcinoma in a Bearded Dragon (Pogona vitticeps)

“…Many different types of neoplasia have been described in bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps). Cases of gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma [2][3][4][5][6], intestinal leiomyosarcoma [7], ovarian metastatic leiomyosarcoma [8], peripheral nerve sheath tumour [9,10], oral fi brosarcoma [11], several periorbital tumours -adenocarcinoma [12], cystadenoma [13], myxosarcoma [14] and squamous cell carcinoma [15] have been published. Leukaemia has also been described in this species [16,17].…”