Post-mortem CT vs necropsy in feline medicine.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to compare post-mortem CT findings with necropsy findings in domestic cats. METHODS: Post-mortem CT and necropsies were performed in 20 cadavers of domestic cats. The sensitivity, specificity and agreement between the post-mortem CT and necropsy findings were determined. RESULTS: There were a total of 315 post-mortem findings; 183 were identified by post-mortem CT and 132 were identified by necropsy. Post-mortem CT demonstrated a higher sensitivity to identify the findings mainly in bones. The higher indices of agreement between post-mortem CT and necropsy were related to abnormalities of pleural space, bones and joints. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This study demonstrated that post-mortem CT and necropsy provided different information. Thus, their use in conjunction with each other might improve the understanding of the cause of death and the identification of post-mortem lesions.

Feline injection site sarcoma: immunohistochemical characteristics.

OBJECTIVES: Feline injection site sarcoma (FISS) is a rapid growing locally aggressive tumor with a low metastatic rate. Its histologic features are clearly defined, but there are few studies regarding its immunohistochemical characteristics. The present study investigated the immunohistochemical characteristics of 21 cases of FISS. METHODS: FISSs from 12 male and nine female cats, 20 mixed-breed and one Siamese, were included in the study. After histopathological diagnosis, additional histologic sections were immunostained for vimentin, cytokeratin, desmin, S100 protein, viral feline leukemia virus (FeLV) particles, cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) and c-KIT. Positive and negative controls were adopted accordingly. Immunostainings were classified as positive or negative according to the number of positive cells from a total of 1000 cells per tumor section. RESULTS: Histopathologic diagnosis of the tumors revealed 18 (85.7%) fibrosarcomas and three (14.3%) other sarcomas; four fibrosarcomas (22.2%) were grade III, five (27.8%) were grade II and nine (50.0%) were grade I. Two sarcomas were grade III and one was grade II. Seventeen (81%) tumors were negative for desmin. All samples were positive for vimentin. Twenty tumors (95.2%) were positive for S-100 protein. Positivity for c-KIT was observed in four (19%) samples; COX-2 was positive in 13 (61.9%) and FeLV viral particles were positive in nine (42.9%) FISSs. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Immunohistochemical findings of FISSs revealed positive immunostainings for desmin, vimentin, S-100 protein, c-KIT, COX-2 and FeLV viral particles.