Medicamenteuze behandeling van een Echinococcus multilocularis-infectie die een lokaal agressieve cavitaire tumor met longmetastasen nabootst bij een hond

Abstract

A two-year-old Labrador retriever living in the French Alps was presented with abdominal distension, lethargy and weight loss but no other specific clinical signs. CT examination revealed a large, cavitary liver mass invading the caudal vena cava, associated with multiple hepatic lesions of similar appearance, lymphadenopathy and pulmonary nodules. The condition was initially mistaken for a malignant neoplasm. However, cytologic and histologic examinations of the largest liver mass were consistent with cestodiasis and PCR testing confirmed infection with Echinococcus multilocularis. Medical treatment with albendazole was initiated. The dog remained clinically well for ten months following the diagnosis, but had to be euthanized because the owners had to return to Great-Britain and the dog could not be legally imported. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first case report, in which long-term follow-up of Echinococcus sp. infection in a dog, managed medically, is described. This case also shows that medical management may be a viable option in case surgery is not feasible.

Computed tomographic appearance of canine hepatic alveolar echinococcosis

“…Our observations align with those described in three canine case reports found in the veterinary literature 7,8,14 . These publications detail clinical, pathological, and parasitological findings in one dog, 7 medical treatment of AE in another dog, 8 and the appearance of secondary pulmonary spread in the third case 14 .…”

“…Our observations align with those described in three canine case reports found in the veterinary literature. 7,8,14 These publications detail clinical, pathological, and parasitological findings in one dog, 7 medical treatment of AE in another dog, 8 and the appearance of secondary pulmonary spread in the third case. 14 The authors hypothesized that the large masses in the liver represented a chronic, advanced stage of the disease due to their size and distinct mineralization, which was considered to be dystrophic calcifications.…”

“…20 Potential differential diagnoses for AE lesions encompass hepatobiliary cysts, abscesses, nodular hyperplastic lesions, and various liver neoplasms such as hepatic adenomas, cystadenomas, hepatocellular carcinomas, cystadenocarcinomas, primary and metastatic hemangiosarcomas. 5,8,10,17,21,22 Hepatobiliary cysts typically exhibit a confined presence within the liver, appearing round, often small, with well-defined margins on both inner and outer surfaces in CT imaging.…”

“…• Circumscribed with defined center of lesion There is limited information on the CT findings of canine AE, with only a few individual case reports lacking a detailed description of the lesions. 3,4,[7][8][9] Therefore, the objective of this study is to describe the CT findings of hepatic AE lesions in a case series of 13 dogs and compare these findings to the published human AEUC classification.…”