Renal carcinoma as a cause of sudden death in an aged horse

Abstract

Summary This report describes rupture of a primary renal carcinoma as a cause of sudden death of an aged horse that presented with mild clinical signs of colic. The case is considered in the context of the few reported cases in the veterinary literature. The most striking feature of this case was the absence of prodromal signs prior to a catastrophic rupture of the tumour during a diagnostic work‐up.

A Retrospective Analysis of Renal Carcinoma in the Horse

“…Four horses died as a direct result of the primary neoplasm. 5,8,10 The median survival time for 24 horses with recorded survival was 11 days (range, 0 days-1 year) (Fig 2). Twenty-six necropsies were performed and both gross and histopathologic findings were recorded.…”

“…8 A 2nd horse presented for colic became profoundly weak during the initial examination and died. 10 In both horses, neoplasia was discovered at necropsy and the cause of death was determined to be hemorrhagic shock caused by invasion of the renal tumor into the adjacent major vessels.…”

“…[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] The medical records for the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Washington State University were also searched for cases that had a histopathologically confirmed diagnosis of renal carcinoma or adenocarcinoma. Information collected included signalment, presenting complaint, history, duration of clinical signs, physical examination findings, clinicopathologic data, diagnostic results including imaging studies, survival time, outcome, gross and histopathologic necropsy findings, and final diagnosis.…”

Renal cell carcinoma with peritoneal carcinomatosis in a mare

“…The sudden death of the mare of the present report was most likely due to hypovolemic shock as a consequence of hemoperitoneum. Death resulting from hemoperitoneum has been reported in horses with RCC (BROWN & HOLT, 1985;KNOWLES et al, 2008). Intra-abdominal hemorrhage was detected through abdominocentesis in 21% of 14 horses with RCC (WISE et al, 2009).…”

“…However, the precise origin of intra-abdominal hemorrhage could not be determined during necropsy. The most common source of hemoperitoneum in horses with RCC is the rupture of the affected kidney leading to intraabdominal hemorrhage (BROWN & HOLT, 1985;KNOWLES et al, 2008). …”