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Verrucous Haemangioma with Pseudocarcinomatous Epidermal Hyperplasia in a Horse
148:1, 2013
ESVP/ECVP Proceedings 2012
69
PATHOLOGY AND CLINICAL DATA INTEGRATED IN ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS FOR PROVIDING PROGNOSIS IN CANCER L. Gaita and M. Militaru University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest, Romania Introduction: One of the oldest medical challenges is the prediction of the most probable outcome of a disease in a given patient, based on the clinical and pathological information and a therapy scenario. Materials and Methods: A model based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) was designed and programmed. The input data (over 120 parameters) include histology type and grade of tumours, morphometry and fractal dimension of microscopical images of lesions, clinical and para-clinical data, quality of life and treatment. The key output is life expectation for dogs and cats with cancer, but many input parameters can be turned into unknowns and the network asked to provide an estimate. Results: The ANN was tested on a smaller set of 27 criteria and 39 cases of cancer in dogs to develop appropriate architecture and learning strategies. Robustness and predictive performance were confirmed. As previously reported, we also found overfitting/overtraining to be the most serious pitfall that needs to be addressed. The complete model is growing and learning. Conclusions: ANNs are one very promising way to respond to the growing interest for evidence-based medicine methods applied in veterinary practice. ANNs provide an approach for integrating current diagnostic and prognostic procedures with some new or still ‘exotic’ pathology information, such as fractal dimensions of histology images.
PATHOLOGICAL AND IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL FEATURES OF A TUBULOPAPILLARY CARCINOMA IN A MARE A. Perez-Ecija, F. Mendoza and J. Estepa Veterinary Faculty, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain Introduction: Mammary tumours are extremely rare in equine pathology. Due to its uncommon appearance, this kind of tumour is not well studied and there is a lack of information related to its immunohistochemical features. Materials and Methods: A 15-year-old Andalussian mare was humanely destroyed due to a slow growing and painful mass compromising both mammary glands. The animal had a serous secretion from one teat, but no other signs were recorded. Results: At necropsy examination both mammary glands were almost completely replaced by a yellow, solid to granular growth with a rubbery consistency. The tumour did not invade the abdominal muscles, but expanded through the adjacent subcutaneous planes. Nodules with this same appearance were observed in the lungs, tracheobronchial lymph nodes and superficial inguinal lymph nodes. Microscopically, the tumour was consistent with a highly aggressive tubulopapillary carcinoma with widespread metastasis and local invasion. An immunohistochemical study was performed in order to characterize the tumour, its metastases and the surrounding reaction using antibodies against vimentin, CD3, CD79, HLA, cytokeratins and Ki67. Conclusions: We present a study of a highly aggressive tubulopapillary carcinoma in a mare with widespread metastasis.
VERRUCOUS HAEMANGIOMA WITH PSEUDOCARCINOMATOUS EPIDERMAL HYPERPLASIA IN A HORSE A. Perez-Ecija, J. Estepa, I. Barranco, I. Rodriguez-Gomez, F. Mendoza and J. Gomez-Laguna Veterinary Faculty, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain Introduction: Verrucous haemangiomas are a rare variant of equine skin tumours not well described in the literature. These tumours are characterized by a plaque-like, dark, hyperkeratotic appearance, a slow growth and a typical location in the distal limbs. Materials and Methods: An 8-year-old Andalusian gelding was presented to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital with a unilateral insidious lesion on the plantar aspect of the right hind pastern. The lesion had been present for 2 years with episodic progression and involution without a seasonal pattern. Results: Macroscopically, the mass had a papillomatous and verrucous surface with a brown colour due to hyperpigmentation and focal ulceration. A punch biopsy revealed a nodular mass expanding from the dermoepidermal junction to the deep dermis. The microscopical and immunohistochemical findings led to a final diagnosis of a verrucous haemangioma. A striking pseudocarcinomatous epidermal hyperplasia with presence of ‘squamous eddies’ was also observed in this animal. Conclusions: Here we describe a verrucous haemangioma in an adult gelding with striking epidermal changes. The diagnosis was confirmed by immunohistochemistry. The concomitant dermal neoplasia and epidermal pseudocarcinomatous hyperplasia with squamous eddies emphasize the necessity for careful evaluation of dermal masses in horses in order to recognize the primary process.
CONGENITAL ASCITES DUE TO HEPATOBLASTOMA WITH EXTENSIVE PERITONEAL IMPLANTATION METASTASES IN A PREMATURE EQUINE FETUS C. de Vries *, P.R.D. Rocha y, E. Vanhaesebrouck *, J. Govaere *, M. Hoogewijs *, L. Bosseler *, K. Chiers * and R. Ducatelle* *Ghent University, Belgium and yUniversity of Turin, Italy Introduction: Only 11 cases of equine hepatoblastoma have been reported. This work reports the first case of equine hepatoblastoma with extensive peritoneal metastases and ascites, without involvement of other organs, in animals. Materials and Methods: At 317 days of gestation, extreme force was necessary to extract a dead, female, Belgian warmblood filly. The foal was submitted to a full necropsy examination, including histopathological and immunohistochemical analysis. Results: Necropsy examination revealed an irregular, bulging, solitary mass (25 cm diameter) in the right liver lobe and obvious ascites. Metastases were present in the left liver lobe, peritoneum and on serosal surfaces of the stomach, diaphragm, spleen and intestine. Histopathology revealed a densely cellular neoplasm. Embryonal epithelial cells were arranged in sheets and nests in a loosely arranged fibrous stroma. The polygonal tumor cells were 15e18 mm in diameter, had a scant, eosinophilic cytoplasm, a single, round, central, basophilic nucleus with finely stippled normochromatic chromatin and a single basophilic nucleolus. There was mild anisocytosis and anisokaryosis. Mitotic figures were rare. The neoplastic cells labelled diffusely for alpha-fetoprotein and were multifocally positive for pancytokeratin and low-molecular weight cytokeratin. Conclusions: Peritoneal metastases of hepatoblastoma without involvement of other organs suggests an unusual peritoneal spread of hepatoblastoma, not described previously in animals.
ESVP/ECVP Proceedings 2012
69
PATHOLOGY AND CLINICAL DATA INTEGRATED IN ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS FOR PROVIDING PROGNOSIS IN CANCER L. Gaita and M. Militaru University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest, Romania Introduction: One of the oldest medical challenges is the prediction of the most probable outcome of a disease in a given patient, based on the clinical and pathological information and a therapy scenario. Materials and Methods: A model based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) was designed and programmed. The input data (over 120 parameters) include histology type and grade of tumours, morphometry and fractal dimension of microscopical images of lesions, clinical and para-clinical data, quality of life and treatment. The key output is life expectation for dogs and cats with cancer, but many input parameters can be turned into unknowns and the network asked to provide an estimate. Results: The ANN was tested on a smaller set of 27 criteria and 39 cases of cancer in dogs to develop appropriate architecture and learning strategies. Robustness and predictive performance were confirmed. As previously reported, we also found overfitting/overtraining to be the most serious pitfall that needs to be addressed. The complete model is growing and learning. Conclusions: ANNs are one very promising way to respond to the growing interest for evidence-based medicine methods applied in veterinary practice. ANNs provide an approach for integrating current diagnostic and prognostic procedures with some new or still ‘exotic’ pathology information, such as fractal dimensions of histology images.
PATHOLOGICAL AND IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL FEATURES OF A TUBULOPAPILLARY CARCINOMA IN A MARE A. Perez-Ecija, F. Mendoza and J. Estepa Veterinary Faculty, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain Introduction: Mammary tumours are extremely rare in equine pathology. Due to its uncommon appearance, this kind of tumour is not well studied and there is a lack of information related to its immunohistochemical features. Materials and Methods: A 15-year-old Andalussian mare was humanely destroyed due to a slow growing and painful mass compromising both mammary glands. The animal had a serous secretion from one teat, but no other signs were recorded. Results: At necropsy examination both mammary glands were almost completely replaced by a yellow, solid to granular growth with a rubbery consistency. The tumour did not invade the abdominal muscles, but expanded through the adjacent subcutaneous planes. Nodules with this same appearance were observed in the lungs, tracheobronchial lymph nodes and superficial inguinal lymph nodes. Microscopically, the tumour was consistent with a highly aggressive tubulopapillary carcinoma with widespread metastasis and local invasion. An immunohistochemical study was performed in order to characterize the tumour, its metastases and the surrounding reaction using antibodies against vimentin, CD3, CD79, HLA, cytokeratins and Ki67. Conclusions: We present a study of a highly aggressive tubulopapillary carcinoma in a mare with widespread metastasis.
VERRUCOUS HAEMANGIOMA WITH PSEUDOCARCINOMATOUS EPIDERMAL HYPERPLASIA IN A HORSE A. Perez-Ecija, J. Estepa, I. Barranco, I. Rodriguez-Gomez, F. Mendoza and J. Gomez-Laguna Veterinary Faculty, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain Introduction: Verrucous haemangiomas are a rare variant of equine skin tumours not well described in the literature. These tumours are characterized by a plaque-like, dark, hyperkeratotic appearance, a slow growth and a typical location in the distal limbs. Materials and Methods: An 8-year-old Andalusian gelding was presented to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital with a unilateral insidious lesion on the plantar aspect of the right hind pastern. The lesion had been present for 2 years with episodic progression and involution without a seasonal pattern. Results: Macroscopically, the mass had a papillomatous and verrucous surface with a brown colour due to hyperpigmentation and focal ulceration. A punch biopsy revealed a nodular mass expanding from the dermoepidermal junction to the deep dermis. The microscopical and immunohistochemical findings led to a final diagnosis of a verrucous haemangioma. A striking pseudocarcinomatous epidermal hyperplasia with presence of ‘squamous eddies’ was also observed in this animal. Conclusions: Here we describe a verrucous haemangioma in an adult gelding with striking epidermal changes. The diagnosis was confirmed by immunohistochemistry. The concomitant dermal neoplasia and epidermal pseudocarcinomatous hyperplasia with squamous eddies emphasize the necessity for careful evaluation of dermal masses in horses in order to recognize the primary process.
CONGENITAL ASCITES DUE TO HEPATOBLASTOMA WITH EXTENSIVE PERITONEAL IMPLANTATION METASTASES IN A PREMATURE EQUINE FETUS C. de Vries *, P.R.D. Rocha y, E. Vanhaesebrouck *, J. Govaere *, M. Hoogewijs *, L. Bosseler *, K. Chiers * and R. Ducatelle* *Ghent University, Belgium and yUniversity of Turin, Italy Introduction: Only 11 cases of equine hepatoblastoma have been reported. This work reports the first case of equine hepatoblastoma with extensive peritoneal metastases and ascites, without involvement of other organs, in animals. Materials and Methods: At 317 days of gestation, extreme force was necessary to extract a dead, female, Belgian warmblood filly. The foal was submitted to a full necropsy examination, including histopathological and immunohistochemical analysis. Results: Necropsy examination revealed an irregular, bulging, solitary mass (25 cm diameter) in the right liver lobe and obvious ascites. Metastases were present in the left liver lobe, peritoneum and on serosal surfaces of the stomach, diaphragm, spleen and intestine. Histopathology revealed a densely cellular neoplasm. Embryonal epithelial cells were arranged in sheets and nests in a loosely arranged fibrous stroma. The polygonal tumor cells were 15e18 mm in diameter, had a scant, eosinophilic cytoplasm, a single, round, central, basophilic nucleus with finely stippled normochromatic chromatin and a single basophilic nucleolus. There was mild anisocytosis and anisokaryosis. Mitotic figures were rare. The neoplastic cells labelled diffusely for alpha-fetoprotein and were multifocally positive for pancytokeratin and low-molecular weight cytokeratin. Conclusions: Peritoneal metastases of hepatoblastoma without involvement of other organs suggests an unusual peritoneal spread of hepatoblastoma, not described previously in animals.