Ultrasonographic findings in a cow with vascular hamartoma of the liver: case report

Abstract

BackgroundThis is the first description of the ultrasonographic findings in a cow with vascular hamartoma of the liver.Case presentationUltrasonographic examination of a six-year-old Swiss Braunvieh cow revealed an excessive number of hypoechogenic blood vessels in the liver parenchyma and a thrombus in the right hepatic vein. The activities of the liver enzymes and the concentration of bilirubin were within the reference ranges. At postmortem examination, a poorly delineated, non-encapsulated lesion, measuring approximately 10 cm × 10 cm in diameter, was found in the right liver lobe. The cut surface of the lesion was sponge-like and contained extremely dilated blood vessels, one of which was occluded with a branching red thrombus. A vascular hamartoma of the liver with thrombosis was diagnosed based on the histological findings.ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this is the first description of the ultrasonographic findings of vascular hamartoma of the liver in a cow. Hamartoma should be considered part of the differential diagnosis in cows with an abnormally large number of blood vessels in the liver parenchyma. This case report broadens the spectrum of liver diseases and ultrasonographic findings of the liver in cattle.

Cerebral Vascular Hamartoma In a Campeiro Bulldog

“…The microscopic features observed in the CNS lesions of the dog support the diagnosis of cerebral VH [4,13,20,21]. Some reports of cerebral VH presented multiple thrombosis [5,18,20,21], varying degrees of hemorrhage and edema, neutrophil and macrophage infiltrate [18,20], mineralization and Purkinje cell chromalolysis [21], however, these pathological changes were not detected in the dog.…”

“…Despite the multifocal VH in the brain tissues of the dog, possibly the anomalous vascular growth did not cause significant injury in the surrounding tissues to produce neurological impairment. Vascular hamartomas have been diagnosed most frequently in symptomatic young patients [3,5,16,21,25,27], such as reported in cats with cerebellar and cervical cord vascular hamartomas [16,21]. The development of clinical signs is attributed to hemorrhage observed in and around the lesions, as well as its ability to act occupying space [7,13,16,20], which may lead to compression of the surrounding brain parenchyma and obstructive hydrocephalus secondary to the injury [13,20].…”

“…Hemorrhage and edema surrounding the mass [18], and vascular hamartomas in other organs [13,21] were not detected in our case. VH have been also reported in the liver [5], ovary [2] and in the mandible involving practically the entire right incisor region [27] of domestic animals. The microscopic features observed in the CNS lesions of the dog support the diagnosis of cerebral VH [4,13,20,21].…”

“…Vascular hamartomas (VH) are considered developmental anomalies, that represent an endothelial tissue disorganization and non-neoplastic proliferation in any region of the body [1,5,8,9,20,22,23,25]. VH may usually present low aggression to surrounding tissues depending on the location and also do not produce clinical signs, which lead to underdiagnoses [1].…”

Cutaneous vascular hamartoma in a lamb

“…Microscopically, the nodule was characterised by a marked proliferation of well-differentiated endothelial cells arranged within the vascular structures with multiple lobes extending from the https://doi.org/10.17221/111/2019-VETMED (Braun et al 2011). Cases of dogs with hamartoma in the brain have also been reported (Sakurai et al 2011), as has one case in the uterus of a rat (Shirota et al 2013).…”