Metastatic osteosarcoma as a cause of hemorrhagic stroke in a dog

Abstract

Cristo, et al.; Metastatic osteosarcoma as a cause of hemorrhagic stroke in a dog. Braz J Vet Pathol, 2017, 10(3), 105 -110 DOI: 10.24070/bjvp.1983-0246.v10i3p105-110 AbstractThe aim of this case report is to describe an uncommon hemorrhagic cerebrovascular accident (CVA) associated with an osteosarcoma (OSA) metastasis. Cerebrovascular accident (CVA) is the acute onset of a neurological deficit from any change in blood supply resulting from a pathological process, characterizing a stroke and among all the causes, the neoplastic thrombus of osteosarcoma, specifically, is the most infrequent in clinical practice. A seven-year-old female midsize mixed-breed dog was submitted to a forelimb amputation for showing an osteoblastic OSA in proximal humerus. Three weeks later, the patient presented uninterruptible seizure and coma, resulting in death. At necropsy, it was observed a friable and reddish mass in the left frontal cortex which, microscopically was constituted by OSA metastasis in association with multiple ruptures of blood vessels and focally extensive severe bleeding, which caused a CVA. At immunohistochemistry, neoplastic cells of the humerus and the brain metastasis were positive for vimentin and osteonectin, confirming the diagnosis of osteoblastic OSA. The reports about OSA metastasis on the brain are rare in animals and humans, what could be related to the low frequency and few diagnosis ante and post-mortem. As uncommon as the description of OSA metastasis to the brain, is the CVA associated to them, demonstrating that reporting cases related to these clinical and anatomopathological lesions are important for the scientific community.

Multiple Metastases of Observed Osteosarcoma Case in A Belgian Malinois Race Female Dog

“…Cases originating from long bones in dogs usually cause lung, regional lymph nodes, liver and kidney organs (Kutsal et al 2003;Murphy et al 2017;Thompson and Dittmer 2017). It has rarely been reported to metastasize to the central nervous system, especially to the brain tissue (McNeill et al 2007;Pazzi et al 2013;Cristo et al 2017). In our study, although there were metastases in the lung and brain similar to the literature data; In spite of the detailed examinations, primary tumor focus (anterior and posterior extremities, ribs and skull bones) could not be detected.…”

“…The average age of the tumor is 7-8 years. Osteosarcomas in races such as Doberman, Pinscher, Golden Retriever, Great Dane, German Shepherd, St. Bernard, Irish Setter, Boxer, Rottweiler and Greyhounds are highly prevalent (McNeill et al 2007;Cristo et al 2017). There are only 5 studies in the Belgian Malinois in the diagnosis of osteosarcoma (Peterson et al 2000;Selvarajah et al 2009;Sivacolundhu et al 2013, Moore et al 2000, Pagano et al 2016.…”

“…Osteosarcoma is frequently observed in middle or old, male and large race dogs (Kirpensteijn et al 2002;Hoenerhoff et al 2004;Mullins et al 2004;Selvarajah et al 2012). Osteosarcomas are seen in high rate in races such as especially Doberman Pinscher, Golden Retriever, Great Dane, German Shepherd, St Bernard, Irish Setter, Boxer, Rottweiler and Greyhound (McNeill et al 2007;Cristo et al 2017). 20-25% of skeletal osteosarcomas in dogs are caused by axial skeletal bones.…”